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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



CULTURE AND THE GOSPEL. 



r 



?W/J 



1~ 



Culture anti tt>e (Gospel; 



OR, 



A PLEA 



FOR 



THE SUFFICIENCY OF THE GOSPEL TO MEET 
THE WANTS OF AN ENLIGHTENED AGE. 



By REV. S. McCALL, 

OLD SAYBROOK, CT. 



1870 









NEW YORK: 

A. D. F. RANDOLPH AND CO. 

1871. 



.Mas 



Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1870, by 

A. D. F. RANDOLPH AND COMPANY, 

In the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington, 



CAMBRIDGE : 
PRESS OF JOHN WILSON AND SON. 



NOTE. 

The germ of this little work is a w Concio 
ad Clerum," preached, by appointment of the 
General Association of Connecticut, at New 
Haven, July 20, 1869, in connection with the 
Commencement exercises of Yale College. 
This may account for the particular cast of 
the production. The theme of that discourse 
was "The special adaptedness of the Gospel 
to the wants of an enlightened age." The 
discussion here takes a wider range, for the 
sake of more general usefulness. 



CONTENTS. 



CHAPTER PAGE 

I. Introduction i 

II. The Gospel an Unimpeachable Record of 

Facts u 

III. The Doctrines High Enough for the 

Ripest Intelligence 20 

IV. A Rule of Action demanding and pro- 

moting Intelligence 33 

V. Method of Operation, Intellectual and 

Spiritual 38 

VI. The Historic Demonstration 47 

VII. Affinity with all True Culture and Ex- 
cellence 52 

VIII. A Corrective of the Faults Incident to 

Knowledge 67 

IX. Capable of Meeting the Growing Wants 

of the Soul 75 

X. Grandeur of its Practical Mission . . 89 
XI. Conclusion 119 



CULTURE AND THE GOSPEL, 



INTRODUCTION. 

A MONG the earliest traditions of our race 
is one of a golden age, when, according 
to the Greeks and Romans, Saturn ruled the 
earth. He, fearing that he should be de- 
throned by one of his sons, devoured his chil- 
dren at their birth. But Jupiter was concealed 
by his mother, and at an early age deposed his 
father, and reigned in his stead. Christianity 
also has its tradition of a golden age, when 
love reigned, and sorrow was unknown. Its 
records speak of the advent of a hostile power, 
of the entrance of Satan, sin, death, and all 
our woe. But they know nothing of another 
divinity able to wrest the sceptre from the 
hands of Him who first held the throne. They 



2 INTR OD UC TION. 

do not chronicle long, gloomy ages of degen- 
eracy among men, and of strife and violence 
among the gods, without any promise or hope 
of restoration and peace. But upon the very 
day of Satan's first triumph came the promise 
of the Seed who should bruise his head. And 
for ages the promise was renewed, till, in the 
fulness of time, "God sent forth His Son, 
made of a woman, made under the law, to 
redeem them that were under the law, that we 
might receive the adoption of sons." The work 
of this Son is not to dethrone His Father, but 
to restore the world to its allegiance to Him ; 
and in this restoration reproduce its golden 
age, with additional and higher benefits and 
felicities. 

But there are not wanting those, who call the 
paradise of the Mosaic records a myth, and 
represent their Jehovah as an old man, too 
feeble to cope with the fiery genius of this age, 
the spirit of knowledge and wisdom and prog- 
ress, the Jupiter-Tonans of the nineteenth 
century. They are fond of expatiating upon 
the antagonisms between the old Bible-religion 



INTRODUCTION. 3 

and the discoveries of modern science, and of 
predicting for the latter a speedy and universal 
triumph. Their battle cry is, " Science must in- 
crease and prevail." But there is to us nothing 
terrible in that sound. We are not only quite 
willing that real science should increase, but 
we will gladly hasten its triumphs by every 
means at our command. We are not careful 
to defend any falsehood in physics, which the 
ignorance of any part of the church, in any 
age, has endorsed. The true church found 
out a great while ago that "the world moves." 
We have no controversy with real light-bearers, 
show us what they ma}'. 

But when men, misled by their theories and 
speculations, call darkness light, and parade 
before us " the oppositions of science falsely so 
called," and demand of us the surrender of our 
faith in the Scriptures, we are bold to tell them 
we prefer "the sure word of prophecy," for 
"the word of the Lord is tried," and we doubt 
not it will endure for ever. We expect science 
to increase, we expect progress in all depart- 
ments of knowledge, we hail every indication 



4 INTR OD UC TION. 

of growing intelligence with delight. But we 
reserve the right to discriminate between pre- 
tenders or experimenters and real teachers. 

We are aware that mistakes have been made 
in religion, and by religious men iia matters 
of secular knowledge. But we think those, 
who have set up their theories or their discov- 
eries against the word of God, by no means 
infallible. We have observed sometimes a 
change of base even in the so called scientific 
world. And even now we hear it whispered 
in certain quarters, with a sort of oracular as- 
surance, that Gravitation, — which, in the hands 
of Newton and others, has been a golden key 
to unlock so many mysteries of the earth and 
the heavens, — is, to say the least, quite un- 
worthy of the high honor it has enjoyed ; and 
that a new Philosophy of Force, resolving all 
things into modes of motion, is the only true 
wisdom, and is destined to make all things 
new in the whole domain of human thought 
and knowledge. But truth is our concern, not 
less than it is of those, who confidently claim 
for themselves all the treasures of knowledge, 



INTR OD UC TION. 5 

and call us the victims of superstition. We 
think at least we know whom we have be- 
lieved, and are ready to give an answer to 
every man that asketh a reason of the hope 
that is in us. The church having had large 
experience in battle with the giants, w r ill not 
be dismayed by the advent of any new divinity, 
not even when Minerva leaps fully armed from 
the head of Jupiter. 

It is no new thing that the preaching of the 
Gospel should be accounted foolishness. It 
was this to the cultivated men of the apostolic 
age. And yet it was declared to be the power 
and the wisdom of God, and God's foolishness to 
be wiser than men. In view of it, one of the loft- 
iest intellects of that age, or of any age, indited 
this language: "Oh, the depth of the riches 
both of the wisdom and knowledge of God ! " 
And still in view of it we may renew the chal- 
lenge of the prophet, " Who hath directed the 
Spirit of the Lord, or being his counsellor hath 
taught him? With whom took he counsel, 
and who instructed him, and taught him in the 
path of judgment, and taught him knowledge, 



O INTRODUCTION. 

and showed to him the way of understand- 
ing?" 

The Scriptures unquestionably claim for the 
gospel scheme the first or highest place in all 
the manifestations of the wisdom of God. And 
the writers of this book were not ignorant of 
the fact, that His perfections are notably dis- 
played in the constitution of nature and man, 
and in the history of the world. The inference 
is plain and direct, that this scheme must be 
sufficient for the necessities of men up to any 
point of intelligence, which they can possibly 
attain. 

The application of this scheme is made the 
special work of the Holy Spirit, who M search- 
eth all things, yea the deep things of God." 

The end proposed to be answered by it is the 
highest to which any can aspire. Oneness in 
the faith, a practical knowledge of the Son of 
God, a perfect manhood, even the measure 
of the fulness of Christ, are combined by the 
great apostle as the grand aim and result of 
gospel teaching. " And he gave some, apos- 
tles; and some, prophets; and some, evangel- 



INTRODUCTION. 7 

ists ; and some, pastors and teachers; for the 
perfecting of the saints, for the work of the 
ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ ; 
till we all come in the unitv of the faith, and oi 
the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect 
man, unto the measure of the stature of the ful 
ness of Christ." If we desire to know what this 
fulness is, we may learn it from the Gospels and 
the Epistles. "And the Word was made flesh, 
and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory, 
the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, 
full of grace and truth." "To this end was 1 
born, and for this cause came I into the world, 
that I should bear witness unto the truth. 
Every one that is of the truth heareth my 
voice." "In whom are hid all the treasures of 
wisdom and knowledge." "Beware lest any 
man spoil you through philosophy and vain 
deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudi- 
ments of the world and not after Christ. For 
in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead 
bodily." Truth, knowledge, wisdom, in regal 
perfection, divine fulness, — can the most en- 
lightened age rise above or go beyond these? 



o INTRODUCTION. 

If we allow the Scriptures to make and plead 
their own claims, we shall without a question 
be brought to the conclusion that the gospel is 
adequate to the wants of any age, however ripe 
its culture, however advanced its intelligence. 
They contemplate no other scheme' of religion, 
no change in substance of doctrine, for the bet- 
ter instruction of even the latest ages. The 
time of shadows has passed away, and the good 
things, which were to come, have come, and 
will abide until the end, till the revelation of 
the new heavens and the new earth, wherein 
dwelleth righteousness. This book has only 
anathemas for those who preach another gos- 
pel. Its last word of warning is this : " If any 
man shall add unto these things, God shall add 
unto him the plagues that are written in this 
book. And if any man shall take away from 
the words of the book of this prophecy, God 
shall take away his part out of the book of life, 
and out of the holy city, and from the things 
which are written in this book." Only those 
who reject the Scriptures, or at least deny their 
inspiration, can look for a more perfect scheme 



INTRODUCTION. 9 

to meet the demands of an enlightened age, 
With this conclusion we who believe may for 
ourselves rest content, cleaving to the old gos- 
pel in its simplicity, without any misgivings, 
until we are discharged from our earthly min- 
istry, resting upon it all our hope of personal 
salvation, and the completed redemption of the 
world. 

But for the sake of those, who question the 
authority of this book, and mo-re especially of 
those, who are in danger of being drawn away 
from the faith by their pretensions to a more per- 
fect wisdom, we may be justified in setting forth 
some of the grounds in reason which support 
the position assumed by the Scriptures. Any- 
thing like a complete exhibition of these must 
take notice of the following points : A record 
of facts, which will bear the most rigid criti- 
cism ; a system of doctrines, at least up to the 
level of the ripest intelligence ; a rule of actum, 
demanding the exercise of an enlightened judg- 
ment for its most perfect application ; an intel- 
lectual and spiritual, rather than a physical or 
a sensuous, method of operation ; a history, 



I O INTR OD UC TION. 

demonstrating the practical superiority of the 
scheme ; affinity with all true culture and ex- 
cellence ; an efficient corrective of the faults 
specially developed in an advanced state of in- 
telligence ; capability of meeting the growing 
wants of the soul ; a mission to develop and en- 
gross the best powers of the mind and heart. 



THE GOSPEL, &c. II 



II. 



THE GOSPEL AN UNIMPEACHABLE RECORD 
OF FACTS. 

r I "HAT form of philosophy, called by its 
author and adherents the Positive — and 
which, in their belief, is the final form of 
knowledge, and destined to be the universal — 
makes a strenuous demand for facts. To this 
demand we take no exception. While we do 
not accept this philosophy as a whole, nor 
share the confidence of its adherents with 
respect to its general prevalence or its advan- 
tages, w T e concede the propriety of this demand. 
We have no answer but that of consent to the 
author of a Biographical History of Philosophy, 
when, in the interest of real knowledge as 
opposed to mere opinion, he quotes with appro- 
bation from the writings of Sir Francis Bacon, 



12 THE GOSPEL 

such words as these : K Men have sought to 
make a world from their own conceptions, and 
to draw from their own minds all the materials 
which they employed ; but if instead of doing 
so they had consulted experience and obser- 
vation, they would have had facts and not 
opinions to reason about, and might ultimately 
have arrived at the knowledge of the laws 
which govern the material world." 

We propose to carry the demand for facts 
into the domain of spiritual as well as of ma- 
terial things. We hold that there are facts of 
a spiritual order, and that these, when properly 
verified, are the sure foundation of religion. 
The record which God has given of His Son 
is a record of facts; some of them, indeed, 
lying out of the range of our observation, but 
supported by appropriate evidence. The life 
of Jesus Christ, substantially as reported to us 
by the Evangelists, is a fact. It is no mythic 
figure, which moves before us upon their pages. 
The date, place, and circumstances of His 
birth and death can be accurately determined. 
It is worth while to remember, and to magnify 



AN UNIMPEACHABLE RECORD. 13 

even more than writers upon Christian Evi- 
dences have been wont to do, that his life was 
fully within the historic period. The record 
does not send us back to the dim shadows of 
uncertain tradition, but sets Him among men 
as distinctly seen as those of the last century. 
We have veritable history filling its place in 
the annals of a distant but not hidden age. 
This thing was not done in a corner. 

And the testimony has not yet been success- 
fully impeached, although thousands of the 
keened intellects, and the most hostile hearts, 
have lent their energies to the task. We stand 
for the facts, we stand by the record, for reasons 
which satisfy us, which have satisfied many of 
the leading minds in all the Christian centuries, 
and which we are persuaded ought to satisfy 
the most advanced thinkers of this and every 
subsequent age. But this is not the place to 
give even a synopsis of those reasons. We 
have works on the Evidences, which have not 
been answered by the enemies of the cross, and 
we shall have other works as there may be oc- 
casion in the future conflicts of the church. If 



14 THE GOSPEL 

unbelief has more Goliahs to defy the armies 
of the living God, the church has more Davids 
to take off their heads. All that we ask of our 
adversaries is fair treatment of the evidences, 
a candid consideration of the facts. We hold, 
with Isaac Taylor, that, — 

" If those modes of proceeding, which have been 
authenticated as good in other cases, are allowed to 
take effect in this case, nothing in the entire round 
of human belief is more infallibly sure than is Chris- 
tianity, when it claims to be, — Religion given to 
man by God. It can be held in question only by aid 
of violence done to established principles of reason- 
ing, and by contempt of the laws of evidence, which 
in all cases analagous to this are enforced." 

" All things mundane I must regard as a troubled 
dream ; all history must become as an incoherent 
myth, if it be not certain that the Christ of the Gos- 
pels is a reality, and the incidents of His life in the 
strictest sense historical." * 

We invent nothing, we suppress nothing, we 
mean to pervert nothing, but take the duly 
authenticated record, and govern ourselves as 
the facts there inscribed require. If many of 

* Restoration of Belief, pages 109 and 364. 



AN UNIMPEACHABLE RECORD. 1 5 

them are not found elsewhere, this does not 
bring them justly under suspicion, but simply 
calls for a more careful testing of the accom- 
panying proofs. If they are sui generis, so is 
their purpose, a purpose vast, good, and neces- 
sary enough to justify a new thing under the 
sun, especially since that thing had been the 
burden of prophecy for not less than four 
thousand years. 

For the quality of these facts we ask, with- 
out hesitation, the respect and even the admir- 
ation of all thinking men. The incidents of 
that wonderful life are neither of doubtful pro- 
priety nor trivial purpose. The incarnation, the 
miraculous conception, the wonderful preserva- 
tion in infancy, the ripe wisdom in childhood, 
the preaching, the healings, the miracles of 
every sort, the sufferings, the crucifixion, the 
resurrection, and the ascension, are not only 
peculiar, but also grand and inspiring realities. 
They constitute a career of surpassing beauty, 
dignity, power, and glory. Whoever admits 
that these are facts, must confess that there is 
no other such series of facts in the history 



1 6 THE GOSPEL 

of the world, nor even any series of fancies 
of equal elevation, in all the legends, fic- 
tions, and mythologies of men. Until one 
shall arise to outdo the works of Christ, and 
give better evidence of divine Sonship, we 
shall hold ourselves justified in challenging 
for Him the reverence and allegiance of all 
mankind. 

The enemies of Christ understand very well 
the legitimate effect of the admission that the 
Evangelists have given us a true account of a 
real life. Hence the attempts of such men as 
Strauss, Renan, and Schenkel, to say nothing 
of other and earlier writers of the same general 
class, to divest the Gospels of their strictly his- 
toric character, and make them the creations 
of later rhapsodists, or a medley of fact and 
fiction, embellished by partizanship and super- 
stition. The Christ of the Gospels, in the 
beauty of His faultless humanity and the power 
of His essential divinity, is too formidable for 
the peace of those, who will not bow down and 
worship Him. Their inward thought seems to 
be that of the chief priests and Pharisees, when 



AN UNIMPEACHABLE RECORD. 17 

they said, " If we let him thus alone, all men 
will believe on him ; and the Romans shall 
come and take away both our place and na- 
tion." Hence one principal part of the work 
of the Christian advocate in our day is to 
maintain the historic accuracy, the integrity 
of the records, which detail the beginning and 
ending and manifold incidents of His matchless 
life. In the facts, accepted as facts, is the 
secret of that power, by which He will draw all 
men to himself. 

In this connection, a word about the number 
of the facts may not be out of place. It must 
be confessed that for so wonderful a life the 
account is very brief. But this we are told is 
not for lack of materials. The extraordinary 
language of John is, "And there are also many 
other things which Jesus did, the which, if 
they should be written every one, I suppose 
that even the world itself could not contain the 
books that should be written." And yet three 
of the Gospels are occupied chiefly with the 
same things. Why this repetition, when there 
was so much material, and so little space al- 

2 



1 8 THE GOSPEL 

lowed ? To make us sure of the great things, 
rather than to gratify mere curiosity by a multi- 
plicity of details. Children and unreflecting 
persons desire many or long-drawn stories. 
Maturer minds are satisfied with less particu- 
lars, and pass to the bearing of the facts re- 
lated. To the ignorant, incidents are the chief 
thing ; to the .reflecting, the principles which 
they illustrate. The peculiarity of the Gospels, 
with respect to the number of facts related, 
commends them to the reflecting mind. Here 
is material enough to engage, not so much as 
to distract, attention, enough certainly for the 
profoundest study of any generation which has 
yet come upon the stage. Our great want to- 
day is not more facts, or greater facts, but a 
better appreciation of those in our possession. 
The apocryphal gospels were invented for weak 
and credulous minds, but they are an offence to 
sound intelligence. They show the craving of 
undisciplined minds for the marvelous, without 
reference to any great moral purpose to be served 
by it. But the influence is every way pernicious. 
The dictate of wisdom, the utterance of ancient 



AN UNIMPEACHABLE RECORD. 1 9 

days, an utterance still in honor among think- 
ing men, is "Non multa sed multum." And 
this demand is exactly met by our Gospels in 
their present form. 



20 THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 



III. 



THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH FOR THE 
RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. 

TRACTS which mean nothing and teach 
nothing, if such a thing were possible, 
could possess but little or no interest for an 
enlightened mind. Scientific men are patient 
in observation, not so much for the sake of the 
things they see as for the sake of the truths 
which those things teach. Science is not the 
bare knowledge of facts, but rather of their 
relations and bearings. Out of their obser- 
vations natural philosophers construct their 
system of philosophy, the orderly statement of 
those doctrines which they suppose their facts 
justify. In like manner gospel facts stand not 
alone, but are the foundation of a system of 
doctrines in religion and ethics. And of this 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. 21 

system, disclosed in part by the teachings of 
Christ, and in part by those of the apostles, 
and other inspired men, we affirm that it is at 
least up to the level of the ripest intelligence to 
which any age or any man has yet attained. 
So much as this is requisite to its adaptedness 
to the wants of an enlightened age. We might 
claim for the gospel much more than this, with- 
out overstating its merits. It has depths which 
no man has yet fathomed. And this is a proof 
that it is not of man, nor by the will of man, 
but by the revelation of God. It is also an 
indication that it is for man in the fullest devel- 
opment of his powers. There ever has been, 
and we do not hesitate to say ever will be, some- 
thing in it to invite further study on the part 
of the strongest and most accomplished minds. 
In this respect it agrees with the universal 
frame of nature. In the heights above and 
the depths beneath there are many things which 
the eye of no observer has yet seen, which the 
thought of no savant has yet reached. If the 
astronomer perfects his instruments, and so 
enlarges his field of vision, he is rewarded 



22 THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 

indeed by clearer views of familiar objects, 
but he discerns also in the receding distance 
other objects whose form he cannot determine. 
There is ever something beyond. And the 
fact, that it is thus with the most patient and 
far-seeing students of the gospel, indicates that 
it also is the production of the one infinite 
Mind. 

But the simple fact that there are points 
of gospel doctrine as yet beyond the grasp of 
men, is not its only claim to the attention of 
intelligent minds. We do not hesitate to affirm 
that it has no points which are unworthy of 
their study, respect, and assent. It is the 
fashion of many in our times to exalt the gospel 
morality, while they deny what they call its 
dogmas. They have no patience with some of 
its doctrines. They would remand its teach- 
ings about sin, redemption, and eternal retri- 
bution to the faith of an ignorant and credulous 
age. They consider that the world has now 
no place for notions so monstrous. ' But we 
claim that its doctrine of sin is fully justified by 
the developments of sin even in this enlightened 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. %3 

age, that its doctrine of redemption is still 
essential to the actual putting away of trans- 
gression, and that its doctrine of retribution is 
rendered the more credible by the light which 
science pours upon the sweep of natural law, 
and the consequences which wait on its viola- 
tion. 

The more man is magnified by the discovery 
of the possibilities latent within him, the greater 
must appear the wrong of either preventing 
these possibilities or perverting them to a base 
and destructive purpose. The more mind is 
developed, either in some particular line of prog- 
ress or in the general elevation of its faculties, 
the higher is our estimate of its value, and the 
clearer our perception of the wrong, the guilt 
involved in its misuse. What we think excus- 
able in an ignorant child we think heinous in 
an intelligent man. The gospel makes this 
distinction in the degrees of human guilt : "And 
the times of this ignorance God winked at ; 
but now commandeth all men everywhere to 
repent." "If I had not come and spoken unto 
them, they had not had sin ; but now they have 



24 THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 

no cloak for their sin." "And that servant, 
which knew his lord's will, and prepared not 
himself, neither did according to his will, shall 
be beaten with many stripes. But he that 
knew not, and did commit things worthy of 
stripes, shall be beaten with few stripes. For 
unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall 
much be required ; and to whom men have 
committed much, of him they will ask the 
more." According to these representations, 
the measure of a man's guilt is determined by 
the measure of his light or his intelligence. 
No sane man can think of taking exception to 
this. 

But the rock of offence is the tremendous 
consequence, which the gospel ascribes to the 
intelligent violation of the moral law. Many, 
who claim to be among the wisest of their gen- 
eration, call this a horrid phantom, devised to 
frighten the ignorant and superstitious. But 
increased reflection upon the capabilities of 
mind, the goodness of God, the nature of moral 
action and moral government, and the conse- 
quences which naturally flow from transgres- 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. 25 

sion, ought to produce a profounder impression 
of the evil of sin. A perfect understanding of 
its relations and bearings, of the authority which 
it contemns, of the goodness which it wrongs, 
of the interests which it destroys, of the bless- 
edness which it prevents and of the misery 
which it procures, of its tendency to spread its 
poison and perpetuate its power, would give a 
view of its enormity not less distinct and fearful 
than that which confronts us upon the sacred 
page. It is not the intelligence of men which 
takes offence at the gospel exhibition of human 
guilt. We have an interest in denying our 
guilt, or reducing it to the lowest possible point. 
Those who would reach a just conclusion in 
this matter, must let their intelligence, without 
their prejudices, enter into this sphere, must 
consent to study the deep things which pertain 
to this evil. A man deep in chemistry or 
astronomy, or in the whole round of natural 
science, may be profoundly ignorant here. 
An exclusive attention to the play of physi- 
cal forces may even disqualify a man to 
speak of a thing so diverse in its nature as the 



26 THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 

voluntary and perverse action of a knowing 
mind. 

And let not those who think they have 
disproved the existence of mind as a thing 
radically different from the material organism, 
and thereby made sin impossible, suppose that 
they have introduced an improvement into the 
economy of human thought and life. If it be 
so that man is doomed, by the irresistible action 
of physical forces, to do and continue to do, 
and to increase in doing, that dreadful thing 
which we call sin — a thing terrible in its direct 
influence upon others, and its reflex influence 
upon himself — what is he the better? If he 
can neither cease from it nor escape from its 
effects, is he not in a far worse condition than 
he is put by the gospel ? What do we gain to 
be without sin, if we cannot be without this 
awful curse ? And what claim to superior 
intelligence can that man have, who divests 
himself of the faculties and prerogatives which 
are the prime condition of all intelligence, who 
in his admiration of chemical affinities and 
modes of motion discrowns himself, and makes 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. 2*J 

all thinking beings the slaves of a substance 
without the power of thought, and a process 
without the shadow of a purpose? Let men 
use their intelligence honestly and faithfully 
in trying to discover what they are, what is the 
nature and extent of their moral relations, then 
they will have no difficulty in seeing that sin is 
exceeding sinful. 

Even those who cannot abide the gospel 
doctrine of sin, often show, by the maledictions 
which they pour upon its advocates, that they 
believe there is a thing in men bad enough to 
be called by the hardest names they can find 
or invent. To this conviction of the enormity 
of sin did Theodore Parker unwittingly tes- 
tify, when, with a disgust and bitterness quite 
inexpressible, he denounced the "Christian 
doctrine of sin as the devil's own," and said, 
" I hate it, — hate it utterly." 

The developments of sin in this day of light 
are so obvious, that there is no occasion for 
special remark concerning them in this con- 
nection. 

The gospel doctrine of sin naturally carries 



28 THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 

with it the doctrine of retribution. So great a 
wrong and evil deserves corresponding treat- 
ment. When we know what sin is, we are 
prepared to read, "The wages of sin is death." 
" Tribulation and anguish upon every soul of 
man that doeth evil." r These shall go away 
into everlasting punishment." And this verdict 
of the gospel is confirmed by the discoveries 
made in the domain of nature. Not only is the 
sweep of penalty here often tremendous and 
remediless, but the operation of the destructive 
force is secret and mvsterious. The blow comes 
without warning, and from a quarter where no 
danger was suspected. And when its work is 
finished, neither the beginning nor the method 
can be discovered. When the worshippers of 
nature have explained these mysteries, it will 
be soon enough for them to cry out against the 
retribution of the gospel as an offence to their 
enlightenment. Greater things ought to be 
expected in the domain of the moral and the 
spiritual. 

In keeping with the gospel doctrines of sin 
and retribution is its doctrine of redemption. 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE, 29 

Nothing less than a divine Saviour can-answer 
the cry of a soul burdened with the intelligent 
conviction of sin, nothing less than expiation 
by the blood of His cross can quell the fears 
of a soul looking for the due reward of its 
deeds. The conceit that sin may be forgiven 
without an atonement is a shallow thought ; it 
comes not of deep views of moral government, 
or the demands and working of the human 
conscience. The more men see of their own 
needs, the more do they admire the way of sal- 
vation through Jesus Christ. And it becomes 
men, wise in their own esteem, to beware how 
they undervalue the wisdom of that scheme 
which angels desire to look into. Vicarious 
sacrifice is not a heathen conception, nor the 
clumsy expedient of a rude age, but God's own 
method for the vindication of His authority, and 
the deliverance of men from the curse of His 
law. w Other foundation can no man lav than 
that is laid, which is Jesus Christ." And other 
foundation can no man have occasion to use, 
however vast his knowledge, or fearful his con- 
sciousness of guilt. 



3° THE DOCTRINES HIGH ENOUGH 

The*gospel furnishes the true and the only- 
true philosophy of existence. The great and 
dark problems, which have in all ages perplexed 
the minds of men, find their solution here. Not 
refinements of speculation, but solid answers to 
the cry of the soul for light upon the end of its 
existence, its destiny, and the reasons of the 
changes which pass over it, are here furnished. 
Comte may declare that f? human knowledge is 
the result of the study of the forces belonging 
to matter, and of the conditions or laws govern- 
ing those forces." " The fundamental character 
of positive philosophy is, that it regards all 
phenomena as subjected to invariable natural 
laws, and considers as absolutely inaccessible 
to us, and as having no sense for us, every 
inquiry into what is termed either primary or 
final causes." And George Henry Lewes, sit- 
ting at his feet, and extolling him as the wisest 
teacher of time, may affirm that philosophy' in 
any other sense is impossible ; that men, if they 
travel out of this course, are doomed ever to 
come back to the point from whence they 
started. But we must think there was riper 



FOR THE RIPEST INTELLIGENCE. 3 1 

thought, as well as higher wisdom, in the 
answer of Schelling in his old age to one who 
asked him, ,:? What is the principle and, so to 
speak, the key-note of the harmony of revela- 
tion with philosophy?" His reply was in the 
words of the great apostle : "For of Him, and 
through Him, and to Him, are all things, to 
whom be glory for ever. Amen." Then he 
added : ? There is the foundation and the last 
word of philosophy." 

How long will those who aspire to be phi- 
losophers, in the highest sense, continue to 
repeat the exploded error of astronomers in 
adhering to the geocentric theory of the uni- 
verse? How long will they refuse to know 
that the true philosophy of the world, men- 
tally and morally considered, has its centre in 
Christ? His appearing in our world was not 
an accident of that day, but the manifestation 
of the great purpose for which the world was 
made. His life was the ruling period of time. 
Philosophy will never be complete, never make 
legitimate progress, except as it is pursued 
from this centre, and under the influence of 



32 THE DOCTRINES, <&c. 

this truth. Any philosophy, worthy of the 
name, must recognize and duly honor " God 
manifest in the flesh," the grand central Power 
which in every age shapes the course of his- 
tory. 



A RULE OF ACTION, &c. 33 



IV. 



A RULE OF ACTION DEMANDING AND PRO- 
MOTING INTELLIGENCE. 

r I ^HE great principles of moral action set 
forth in the gospel are unchangeable. 
But the mode and measure of their application, 
in particular cases, is left very much to our 
individual judgment. Love to God and men 
embraces the whole compass of our duties. 
But in what ways this love shall be expressed 
is not prescribed, except in a few leading par- 
ticulars. Prayer is one prescribed method of 
honoring God. And some models of prayer 
are furnished. But we are not shut up to the 
use of these models. We may frame our own 
speech, and ask for such things as we judge 
most suitable to our circumstances. We are 
required to remember the sabbath-day and 

3 



34 A RULE OF ACTION 

keep it holy. But what specific actions are to 
be done on that day we must judge for our- 
selves, in view of the end to be answered and 
the facilities provided. We must love our 
neighbors as ourselves. But to which of them 
we should give money or other aid, and to 
what extent, we must decide for ourselves, in 
view of their necessities and our ability. It is 
taken for granted that the right principle in 
the heart, and the proper use of the intelli- 
gence, bestowed or acquired, together with 
such increase of wisdom as may be obtained 
in answer to prayer, may be safely trusted to 
regulate these details of daily duty. 

And we can but mark a great difference in 
this regard between the earlier and the later 
prescriptions of Holy Writ. The Mosaic insti- 
tutes abound in minute specifications. They 
fixed the place of worship, the time, order, and 
amount of the daily offerings. They named 
the precise penalty for a great number of trans- 
gressions. That mode of procedure was fitted 
for days of comparative ignorance and depend- 
ence. The church was then in the condition 



PROMOTING INTELLIGENCE. 35 

of a child, who "is under tutors and governors 
until the time appointed of the father." But 
when that first covenant, not faultless, passed 
away, the child was advanced from the con- 
dition of a servant to that of a son. The yoke 
of ceremonial prescription was taken off, and 
principles implanted in the heart were left com- 
paratively free to work themselves out in such 
details as might best serve their great purpose. 
Our Saviour claimed to be Lord of the sabbath- 
day, and He did not scruple to do some things, 
and permit His disciples to do some things, 
which offended the strict legalists of His day. 
He taught that the new wine must not be put 
into the old bottles. 

Now this gospel liberty, this flexible rule of 
action, — flexible not in principle, but in the 
application according to the exigencies of each 
case as apprehended by the best wisdom of the 
agent, — commends itself to the intelligence of 
mankind. It stimulates our self-respect. It 
gives us credit for knowing something, of being 
able of ourselves, in one sense, to judge what 
is right. We are thus treated not as children 



3^ A RULE OF ACTION 

in understanding but as men. And the neces- 
sity of determining the bounds and steps of our 
duty, in many things, requires of us careful 
study, the most earnest exercise of our intelli- 
gence. It may be a convenience for an ignorant 
man to have a fixed rate of his duties, to be told 
just what and how many prayers to repeat, 
and just how much money to spend for religion 
and charity. But it may be safely asserted 
that such a man will remain ignorant, or make 
but slow progress in knowledge. The gospel 
is a fountain of light, and he who receives it in 
spirit and in truth becomes qualified for judging 
of his duty, as otherwise he could not be. " He 
that is spiritual discerneth all things." "The 
commandment of the Lord is pure, enlightening 
the eyes." 

And if it be objected that with such a rule 
of action, throwing us so often upon our own 
judgment, and demanding our most careful 
thought to give it the best application, the 
uninstructed must often fall into great and dis- 
astrous errors, we may reply in the words 
of the apostle : ?? If there first be a willing mind, 



PROMOTING INTELLIGENCE. 37 

it is accepted according to what a man hath, 
and not according to that he hath not." And 
we may further say, that the mistakes which a 
conscientious man makes in trying to find out 
his duty are not the least valuable part of his 
education. And one who distrusts his own 
competence to judge, will not ordinarily hesi- 
tate to ask the advice of those better informed. 
And never, if he is sincerely desirous of know- 
ing his duty, will he fail to " ask wisdom of 
God, who giveth unto all men liberally, and 
upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." 
It is taken for granted, that those who receive 
the gospel will not remain willingly ignorant, 
but search the Scriptures, and use all available 
means for understanding the w r ay of the Lord 
more perfectly. He who is not disposed to do 
this, is not worthy to be called a disciple of 
Christ, no matter how long he may have been 
in communion with an organization calling 
itself the church of Christ. 



38 METHOD OF OPERATION, 



V. 



METHOD OF OPERATION, INTELLECTUAL AND 
SPIRITUAL. 

/CHRISTIANITY contemplates the growth 
of its adherents in every virtue, and the 
accession of many that are without. By what 
means does it aim to secure these ends? Prima- 
rily and chiefly by the preaching of the gospel. 
" Now after that John was put into prison, Jesus 
came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of the 
kingdom of God." "From that time Jesus 
began to preach, and say, Repent: for the 
kingdom of heaven is at hand." And when 
His earthly ministry was finished, He said to 
His disciples, "All power is given unto me in 
heaven and in earth. Go ye, therefore, and 
teach all nations, baptizing them in the name 
of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy 



INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL. 39 

Ghost; teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you." Imme- 
diately after His ascension, one was chosen in 
the place of Judas Iscariot, to be with the other 
apostles M a witness of His resurrection." When 
the great apostle of the Gentiles was called to 
his high office, and sent "to open their eyes 
and turn them from darkness unto light," he 
"showed first unto them of Damascus, and at 
Jerusalem, and throughout all the coasts of 
Judea, and then to the Gentiles, that they 
should repent and turn to God, and do works 
meet for repentance." Twenty-five years later, 
it was his joy to remember and assert that, 
from Jerusalem and round about unto Illyri- 
cum, he had fully f reached the gospel of 
Christ." To the Corinthians he wrote, M Christ 
sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gos- 
pel." Here is his estimate of rites, even those 
of Christ's appointing, in comparison with the 
preaching of the gospel. Of arts and tricks to 
impose upon the credulity of men he knew 
nothing, but to despise and abhor. "We have 
renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not 



4° METHOD OF OPERATION, 

walking in craftiness, nor handling the word 
of God deceitfully ; but by manifestation of the 
truth, commending ourselves to every man's 
conscience in the sight of God." Miracles 
were to some extent also employed in those 
days. But the object of these was to prepare 
the way for the reception of the gospel. And 
when any required miracles, merely for the 
gratification of an idle curiosity, they were 
denied. And after Christianity was established 
miracles ceased. Men were then shut up to 
the preaching of the gospel, and the two simple 
rites which Christ ordained, — Baptism and the 
Lord's Supper. 

But many who professed conversion, did not 
long remain content with these simple means 
of instruction and edification. The ordinances 
were grossly perverted, and to them was 
ascribed a regenerating power. Other rites, 
and ceremonies without end, were added, to 
dazzle the senses and charm the taste of unre- 
flecting and unrenewed men. Thus the number 
of nominal adherents was rapidly multiplied. 
And by and by the preaching of the gospel 



INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL. 41 

ceased. Then the dark ages came in, and 
hung their pall of death over the nations. 
Force also became a favorite instrument for 
effecting conversions and preventing apostasy. 
The sword of the State was more in requisition 
than the sword of the Spirit. This was not 
according to the instructions of Christ. His 
way of discipling the nations was by teaching 
them, by appointing chosen men to tell them 
the story of the Lord, to preach among them 
the unsearchable riches of His wisdom, love, 
and grace. And since preaching has been 
restored to its appointed place in the Protestant 
church, a new era for the intelligence of man- 
kind has opened upon the world. 

One still standing among us has paid a fitting 
tribute to the intelligence of an earlier genera- 
tion in our Commonwealth, whom he represents 
as content to sit without fire, in an open house, 
long hours in the drear winter time, listening to 
the word of life. His words are: fC There is 
no affectation of seriousness in the assembly, 
no mannerism of worship ; some would say too 
little of the manner of worship. -They think 



4 2 METHOD OF OPERATION, 

of nothing, in fact, save what meets their intel- 
ligence, and enters into them by that method. 
They appear like men, who have a digestion 
for strong meat, and have no conception that 
trifles more delicate can be of any account to 
feed the system. . . . Under their hard and, as 
some would say, stolid faces, great thoughts 
are brewing, and these keep them warm. 
Free-will, fixed fate, foreknowledge absolute, 
trinity, redemption, special grace, — give them 
any thing high enough, and the tough muscle 
of their inward man will be climbing sturdily 
into it ; and if they go away having something 
to think of, they have had a good day. A per- 
ceptible glow will kindle in their hard faces, 
only when some one of the chief apostles — 
a Day, a Smith, or a Bellamy — has come to 
lead them up some higher pinnacle of thought, 
or pile upon their sturdy mind some heavier 
weight of argument." 

A noble generation of men, and worthily 
commended to the study and imitation of these 
softer and more graceful days. Would that an 
intelligence not less sturdy, in spiritual things, 



INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL. 43 

were blended with the refinements of this age. 
Is there not in many places occasion for the 
rebuke administered to the Hebrews? :f When 
for the time ye ought to be teachers, ye have 
need that one teach you again which be the 
first principles of the oracles of God, and are 
become such as have need of milk and not of 
strong meat." Is not this the explanation of the 
recent rapid growth of ritualism? 

It is true, historically, that ritualism has 
flourished greatly in times of general igno- 
rance. A barbarous people can appreciate its 
gorgeous displays. And the low degree of gen- 
eral culture among the chosen people may be 
one principal reason why the appointments for 
the tabernacle and temple were so magnificent. 
A further reason may have been, to show the 
world the unsatisfying nature of the experi- 
ment. It is quite certain that, in the early days 
of Christianity, no account was made of such 
things. They were not only not relied upon, 
but they were discarded. Christ took upon 
Himself the form of a servant, and made Him- 
self of no reputation. He would not be made 



44 METHOD OF OPERATION, 

a king. The first disciples and apostles were 
plain fishermen. The great apostle shunned 
the brilliant rhetoric of his day. But if Chris- 
tianity ever needed the aid of an imposing 
ceremonial, it was at the outset. But then it 
was utterly rejected, and it ought to be dis- 
carded to the end of the world. Let it be 
attached to false religions that have nothing 
else to recommend them to the acceptance of 
mankind, or be remembered as an adjunct 
cf an imperfect system, which God meant only 
for the childhood of the race, adopted as a 
temporary and preparatory expedient until the 
times of the reformation. The modern apostles 
of ritualism offer an affront to the intelligence 
of this age, while they obscure the glory of the 
cross. The gospel asks no such service at 
their hands, while discerning minds reject it as 
a degradation of the religion it professes to 
honor, and a fearful wrong to the souls it 
attempts to guide. God's truth shines by its 
own supernal brightness, for low and high, for 
the ignorant and the learned, "the light of the 
knowledge of the glory of God in the face of 



INTELLECTUAL AND SPIRITUAL. 45 

Jesus Christ." It asks not the poor candles 
of human invention to help it irradiate the 
world. Away with these rush-lights, these 
robes curiously wrought, these censers and pro- 
cessions, away with every thing which comes 
between the simple truth of the gospel and the 
minds and hearts of men, who must be saved 
by the intelligent apprehension and the hearty 
reception of it, or be lost for ever. Christianity 
has indeed its symbolism, but it is the very 
essence of simplicity and transparency, — water 
for baptism into the name of Father, Son, and 
Holy Ghost ; bread and wine for showing forth 
the Lord's death until He comes ; the word of 
truth for correction and instruction in righteous- 
ness. These address directly and powerfully 
the intelligence of men. 

But the gospel method of operation is not of 
the intellectual order only. It is also spiritual. 
The gospel does indeed invite and demand the 
thoughtful attention, the candid, earnest, per- 
sistent consideration of men, but it does not 
rest upon this method alone. In fact no vital 
change is expected without the power of the 



46 METHOD OF OPERATION, &c. 

Holy Ghost. It is most agreeable to reason 
that He, who made the mind, should have full 
access to it, and know how to work changes 
in it. And according to the Scriptures, the 
most radical change which is ever made in it, 
is wrought by the Holy Spirit. He who created 
can renew. But this renewal, by a special 
exercise of divine power, is not independent of 
the truth. The sword of the Spirit is the word 
of God. The heirs of eternal life are chosen 
to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit 
and belief of the truth. It was when the apos- 
tles preached, that the Holy Ghost fell on them 
which heard the word. This combined power 
of the word, and the Inspirer of the word, 
must not only be the most efficient possible, but 
also commend itself to the reflecting mind as 
the most fit and worthy agency for reaching 
and transforming, for enlightening, subduing, 
elevating, and perfecting men. 



THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. 47 



VI. 



THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. 

TT surely is reasonable to ask that, in the 
course of eighteen centuries, the gospel 
should accomplish something worthy of its 
claims. The time has been long enough for 
a conclusive demonstration. And this we hold 
has been given. We freely admit that, as yet, 
it has gained the adhesion of only a fraction of 
the race. But the explanation of this fact is 
found in the nature of its appeal. It does not 
come upon men with an overwhelming force, 
but comes to them with considerations of reason 
and truth, with motives which they may either 
receive or reject. They may even resist the 
Holy Ghost, and He will leave them to their 
own chosen ways. The native bias of the 
heart is opposed to the gospel. All the prog- 



4^ THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. 

ress it has made in the world has been in the 
way of conquest, overcoming that toughest of 
all resistants, human depravity. If men, or 
generations, in the pride of their self-will, and 
the love of sinful pleasures, would none of it, 
so much the worse for them ; but this detracts 
nothing from its inherent worth. If God, in 
view of their perversity, gave them over to a 
reprobate mind, this is no impeachment of His 
goodness, and their doom is no reflection upon 
the grace which would have saved them, if 
they would have received it. This grace 
would be infinitely glorious if all men should 
reject it. 

And yet, as a practical scheme of redemp- 
tion, the gospel must be declared a failure, 
unless it can be shown that it has won many 
and substantial triumphs. A vast multitude 
have embraced it, and given the highest pos- 
sible evidence of their sincerity in so doing. 
The Acts of the Apostles herald its early vic- 
tories. And they tell us what manner of men 
those became who received it. They continued 
steadfastly in the truth and worship of Christ, 



THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. 49 

and sold their possessions and goods, and parted 
them to all men as they had need. In later 
days, impurities came in to disturb the course 
of its history. And the written annals of the 
church may have preserved more of her con- 
troversies and mistakes, than of her truthful 
inculcations and her benefactions. But even in 
her worst estate, she was doing signal service 
for mankind. Her noble army of martys can 
never be forgotten. Her work, in preserving 
both secular and sacred learning, can hardly 
be too highly prized. Nations of barbarians 
have been tamed and civilized by the power 
of the cross. The habitations of cruelty have 
been transformed into the abodes of charity 
and peace. Altars wet with human blood 
have been thrown down, and temples conse- 
crated to Jehovah have been reared up in their 
stead. Asylums for the unfortunate and the 
wretched have been opened in many lands. 
Prisons have lost their tortures, and slaves 
have been delivered from their fetters. Gov- 
ernments have learned the humanities of their 
office, and peoples the sacredness of their rights. 

4 



5° THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. 

Homes and schools and churches have been 
made the nurseries of learning, piety, philan- 
thropy, all the graces of refinement, all the 
fruits of civilization. And the blessed work 
wrought in individual souls cannot be named 
or estimated. What righteousness, what peace, 
what joy in the Holy Ghost ! What zeal in 
life, what transports in a dying hour! And 
there is to-day a great army, toiling in patience, 
waiting in hope, praying in faith, looking with 
confidence, for the overthrow of all wickedness, 
and the perfect establishment of righteousness 
and peace in all the earth. It were easy to 
speak of wrongs in the past and defects in the 
present. But in spite of these, we maintain 
that the adherents of the gospel, the true dis- 
ciples of Christ, as a body, are in the van of 
all movements calculated to restore man to 
himself, his true place in society, and his alle- 
giance to God. Others may be more boastful 
in pretensions, more extreme in expedients, 
more fierce in invectives, more violent in dem- 
onstrations, but the great burden of the real 
work of renewing the face of the earth rests 



THE HISTORIC DEMONSTRATION. S 1 

upon the shoulders of the army enlisted under 
Christ. The path of the gospel through the 
ages has been a track of light, and notwith- 
standing all the errors and impurities and 
wrongs which have taken shelter under the 
name of the church, and all the prejudice 
raised thereby against the cause of Christ, we 
believe that it will lead right on and upward, 
till He shall be enthroned over the nations, and 
all nations shall be blessed in Him. 



$2 AFFINITY WITH 



VII 



AFFINITY WITH ALL TRUE CULTURE AND 
EXCELLENCE. 

TT has not been uncommon to represent Chris- 
tianity as hostile to many other forms of the 
good, the true, and the beautiful. And occa- 
sion has been found in the manner in which 
some Christians have spoken of and treated 
these things. They may have erred, but it 
is quite as likely that they have been mis- 
understood. It is common for evangelical 
preachers to speak of the total depravity of 
unrenewed men, notwithstanding all the pleas- 
ing and commendable traits which they may 
possess. This sort of language does not deny 
that for some purposes the natural virtues, as 
they are called, are good and useful. But it 
declares that in the matter of justifica + ion before 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 53 

God they are of no account whatever, inasmuch 
as the radical principle of action is utterly want- 
ing in that regard for God and His will and 
glory, which is the very essence of holiness. 
Repentance toward God, and faith in our Lord 
Jesus Christ, are insisted upon first of all, not 
as arbitrary terms of salvation, but as involving 
the new and holy principle from which right 
actions will proceed. None can be more ear- 
nest than the preachers of total depravity, in 
exhorting believers to "maintain good works 
for necessary uses." If Luther was afraid of 
the Epistle of James, because he read in it, 
f Ye see then how that by w T orks a man is jus- 
tified, and not by faith only," this must be 
put to the account of his want of completeness 
in the knowledge of God, a want which can 
surprise no man, who thoughtfully considers 
the errors of doctrine and practice so rife in his 
day. It is rather to be wondered at that he 
came so near complete emancipation from the 
falsehoods and abuses in which he was trained. 
Good works, in their proper place, cannot well 
be magnified more than they are in the gospel, 



5l AFFINITY WITH 

while it does not ascribe to them an importance 
in other relations, which must utterly disap- 
point those who trust in them. 

It is common for a certain class of writers 
and speakers to declaim against the church as 
a stickler for dead dogmas, but indifferent to 
the great practical issues of the day. To this 
accusation we have three replies. First, for 
the most part it is false. In the main, the 
church — the living, evangelical church — is, 
to say the least, abreast of any other body of 
progressive men in matters of reform. In some 
matters of innovation, which are not of reform, 
the church is quite willing that others should 
do the work and reap the reward. When it 
comes to giving and doing and suffering and 
dying for a worthy object, the hosts of the 
church will not be found wanting, as compared 
with any other bod}' of men. So long as there 
is nothing but sf caking to be done, other voices 
may perhaps be louder than hers. 

Our second reply is, that the church has 
always in hand a greater work than what are 
called the issues of the day. In her view, to 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 55 

save a soul from death, and hide a multitude 
of sins, is greater than to save a kingdom from 
anarchy or despotism ; to put a man in the way 
to heaven, is better than to lavish upon him all 
the treasures of wealth and liberty and learning. 
First, the kingdom of God and His righteous- 
ness ; then all other good things as there may 
be opportunity for gaining and using them 
consistently with the great commanding pur- 
pose. 

Our third answer is, that the fundamental 
work of the church is the most reliable support, 
the most efficient promoter, of every good thing 
in man and in society. Regenerated men are 
the best material and the best instruments for 
any great undertaking, or for any worthy enter- 
prise that is not great, — whether you would 
build a character, a home, a literature, or a 
nation. First, get the man right in his views 
of the great end of life, in his spirit, in his feel- 
ing of brotherhood with all the race, in his 
consciousness of fellowship with God, — then 
will his own invigorated faculties find out a way 
of rendering service to his kind ; then will his 



56 AFFINITY WITH 

own ever-gushing impulses urge him onward 
in a career of self-denial, toil, endurance, honor, 
usefulness. He is jit for a friend, a neighbor, 
a citizen, a philanthropist. He will build on 
the everlasting foundations, and his work in 
substance shall abide, no matter how many 
nor what sort of revolutions may assail it. The 
form only can ever pass away. With very 
defective political and social institutions, he 
will do better for himself and for humanity 
than one, who knows nothing of true gospel 
power, in his own experience, can possibly do 
with the most perfect organizations ; and at the 
same time, he will make sure and steady prog- 
ress toward the reformation of those faulty 
institutions. 

Follow the missionary of the Cross from his 
Christian home to his chosen field of self-denial 
among the heathen. Mark the despotism, the 
ignorance, the superstition, the degradation, 
the barbarism, which confront him at every 
step. Tarry with him till he grows old in 
the service, and forgets his mother tongue. 
Observe now the change in his field of labor. 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 57 

The government has learned to respect the 
rights of conscience. The people have become 
industrious and moral. The idol shrines are 
forsaken. The house of God is filled with rev- 
erent worshippers. Falsehood, theft, violence, 
have disappeared. Charity, with open hand, 
feeds the hungry, relieves the distressed. The 
solitary place is glad, the desert blossoms as 
the rose. This is gospel work, the work of 
men who hold, and who find all their inspira- 
tion in, the grand old doctrines which some 
are pleased to call the antiquated rubbish of a 
metaphysical or controversial, not a practical 
age. 

But we must pass on to look at this matter 
in other relations. Liberty has been regarded 
among enlightened nations as one of the great- 
est blessings. With the progress of light in 
this century, the cry for liberty has waxed 
louder and louder. Even old Spain, the home 
of the Inquisition, is beginning to hear the cry, 
and to feel the stirring of a new life in her 
darkened soul. Is the gospel unfriendly to 
this cry? Not unless it means liberty to bias- 



58 AFFINITT WITH 

pheme the name of God, and wage war upon 
the dearest rights of mankind. Christ, at the 
very outset, proclaimed deliverance to the cap- 
tives, and liberty to them that are bruised. 
The great apostle speaks of the glorious liberty 
of the children of God. Where does liberty 
dispense its choicest blessings to-day? In Eng- 
land, Scotland, and these United States, the 
most nearly Christian countries in the world, 
the lands in which true gospel preaching has 
most place and power. Guizot affirms that the 
comparative histories of the world, whether 
Christian or Pagan, place it beyond all doubt 
"that Christianity alone restored to man, as 
man, and for no other reason, his rights to 
liberty." And Farrar, in his ?f History of Free 
Thought," declares that it was Milton, that 
prince of Christian poets and writers upon civil 
affairs, w who first enunciated in its breadth the 
principle of universal religious freedom and 
liberty of conscience." 

The love of the beautiful is characteristic of 
an enlightened age or people. Does the gospel 
encourage or repress it? Had we space we 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 59 

might pursue this inquiry with reference to 
architecture, sculpture, painting, poetry, music, 
oratory, and general refinement or elegance in 
the business, courtesies, and enjoyments of life. 
But a particular examination of this wide and 
inviting field is obviously quite impracticable 
in this connection. There is material here for 
a volume, by which some true disciple of 
Christ and true lover of Art may instruct and 
enrich his generation. There is room in this 
place for nothing more than the statement and 
brief defence of the doctrine in general, that 
the gosj)el favors all these so far as it may 
without detriment to its grand -purpose — the 
regeneration of the world, the salvation of the 
soul. 

True gospel work is a refining process. Its 
aim is perfect moral excellence. Its legitimate 
effect in all other relations must be in keeping 
with this. If the effect is ever otherwise, it 
must be ascribed to an alien element, which has 
come in to disturb the normal action of the gos- 
pel. It cannot, however, be denied that those 
bearing the name of Christ have sometimes 



6o 



AFFINITY WITH 



manifested indifference, or even hostility, to the 
creations of Art. It is freely allowed that the 
appearance of Christ, and the style of the great 
apostle, did not indicate any ambition for artistic 
perfection. And some may recall the words 
of Peter : "Whose adorning, let it not be that 
outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of 
w r earing of gold, or of putting on apparel, but 
let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that 
which is not corruptible, even the ornament 
of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight 
of God of great price." Not a few passages of 
like tenor may be gathered out of the word 
of God. In explanation of these things two 
points are to be considered, the relative impor- 
tance of outward graces, and the disposition of 
men to magnify them unduly. As compared 
with the. graces of the Spirit, the beauty of holi- 
ness, they are not of great account. And if 
the question is, Which shall be sacrificed for 
the other?' there can be no hesitation in decid- 
ing that the less must yield to the greater. 
And the truth is, that men are so readily cap- 
tivated by the outward and the sensuous, that it 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 6 1 

is ever necessary to guard against its encroach- 
ment upon the spiritual. If the right eye offends, 
it must be plucked out ; the right hand be cut off. 
But it is only when the outward withdraws 
attention from the inward, only when the sen- 
suous obscures the spiritual, that there is occa- 
sion for applying this precept of the gospel. 
In subordination, all these graces of form, 
manner, and action, may minister to the edify- 
ing of the body of Christ. But in subordination 
they must be kept, or put away. Whatever 
men can bear with safety to their spiritual 
integrity, progress, and usefulness, they are 
allowed : more than this they may not inno- 
cently desire. 

It is not because these things are evil in 
themselves, but because we are prone to make 
a god of them, that we are charged to take 
heed lest they prove a snare to our souls. In 
a perfect state, there will be no need of this 
caution. The thoroughly sanctified spirit may 
go in and out among the fairest creations of 
even divine skill, without hindrance or abate- 
ment of its delight. The New Jerusalem, 



62 AFFINITY WITH 

descending out of heaven from God, prepared 
as a bride adorned for her husband, having the 
glory of God, is the perfection of beauty. And 
this shall be the home of the ransomed for ever. 
To pass through its pearly gates, to gaze at its 
jasper walls, to tread its golden streets, to han- 
dle its harps and palms and crowns, to hear its 
mighty voices and its melodious songs, to be 
surrounded by its splendors and filled with its 
magnificence, shall be the portion of all who 
"have washed their robes, and made them 
white, in the blood of the Lamb/' It shall be 
their portion, because for them it will be safe. 
But while we are in the flesh, we must consider 
what and how much we can bear without 
prejudice to our character, and our hope of 
everlasting life. 

It is the thought of some that paradise restored 
would end our woes. But they forget that all 
the charms of Eden kept not sin out of the 
world. If the innocent fell, in the midst of all 
these delights, how can we think that plenty 
and beauty are the prime necessity of fallen 
and guilty men? No, the work of sin must be 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 63 

undone, the world renewed, before paradise 
can be safely restored. As the world pro- 
gresses toward the sinless state, through the 
rectifying power of the Cross, the outward con- 
dition may, with safety, increase its charms. 
But while the church is in deadly conflict with 
the powers of darkness, all her energies should 
be consecrated to her work, and her appear- 
ance that of one girded for battle. It is no 
time to sit down and clothe herself in holiday 
attire, while the enemy is coming in like a 
flood, and souls are pressing down to death. 

When our Lord began his ministry, there 
was no lack of outward splendor in church or 
state. The temple at Jerusalem was blazing 
with magnificence. Athens and Rome were 
filled with costly shrines and beautiful statues 
of the gods. Poetry produced the strains, and 
eloquence the speeches, which the world is 
still charmed to hear. But Jews, Greeks, 
Romans, and barbarians, were alike dead in 
trespasses and sins. Society was a garnished 
sepulchre. The work to be done was to strip 
off this covering of deceit, and create a new 



64 AFFINITT WITH 

life in the centre of the soul. In this vital work 
little account could be made of ornaments, 
which, to say the least, would not help the 
great endeavor ; and which, in consequence of 
their association with degrading mythologies 
and dead formalism, were likely either to ob- 
scure its purpose or corrupt its adherents. In 
the great crises of history men are too earnest, 
too much intent upon the vital issue to give 
much indulgence to the passion for the beau- 
tiful. 

And this consideration goes far to explain 
the fact that, in some departments of Art, the 
old masters of the pagan world have never been 
surpassed. While we do not admit that, all 
things considered, there has been no progress, 
no development, no elevation of the artistic 
idea, under the reign of Christianity, we are 
willing to allow that in some departments, like 
that of sculpture for example, the ancients of 
the ante-Christian age came as near perfection 
as any of a later day. And if this be named 
as a reproach to the gospel, our answer is that 
the great concern of its true adherents has ever 



ALL TRUE CULTURE. 65 

been not to make faultless'statues, dead images, 
but perfect men, alive with the noblest impulses, 
active in the holiest ministries, adorned with 
the choicest graces, animated by the loftiest 
hopes, and sealed as the heirs of immortality. 
This work is immeasurably nobler than the 
grandest and the most finished creations or 
imitations of Art. 

But we may claim a very high place in this 
matter of Art for our holy religion. Indeed, 
some portions of the sacred writings are of 
inimitable beauty and sublimity. And but for 
the gospel, where had been Handel's unmatched 
Oratorio of the Messiah, Dante's Divina Corn- 
media, Milton's Paradise Lost, Leonardo da 
Vinci's Last Supper, Michael Angelo's Last 
Judgment, Volterra's Descent from the Cross, 
or Raphael's Transfiguration? However de- 
fective may have been the character of any of 
these, or other great masters, in Christian Art, 
it is undeniable that they drew their inspiration 
from the oracles of God. These gave them 
the sublime conception which, more than their 
style of expression, is the abiding charm of their 

5 



66 



AFFINITY, dec 



work. Let rationalism, positivism, naturalism, 
do better and greater things than these, ere we 
are summoned to exchange our Faith for their 
Unbelief. In his life of Michael Angelo, Her- 
man Grimm has recorded a fact, or uttered an 
opinion, which is worth the study of those who 
would banish the supernatural from the world. 
His words are : f< The decline of painting and 
sculpture began when the sacred element wholly 
disappeared, and when the artist's single aim 
was to satisfy the purchaser of the work." Art 
can never do its best, both in theme and expres- 
sion, until it feels the breathing of the Divine 
Spirit, grasps some great divine thought, and 
bathes itself in the radiance of the divine glory. 



A CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS, &c. 67 



VIII. 

A CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS INCIDENT 
TO KNOWLEDGE. 

IGHT is always good if a man will use it 
lawfully. But it is the prerogative of a 
free agent, and very often the impulse of the 
human agent, to use it unlawfully. No one 
thinks of controverting the adage, K Knowledge 
is pow r er." But it must be remembered, that it 
is power in the bad as well as in the good. 
It may indeed be claimed, that the legitimate 
influence of knowledge is purifying and eleva- 
ting ; that other things being equal, crimes and 
gross immoralities will abound more in an 
ignorant than in an enlightened community. 
And yet it is incontrovertible, that many 
learned men have been also very profligate, 
and a greater scourge to society in consequence 
of their learning. And it is generally supposed 



68 A CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS 

that the Augustan age, eminent in letters, was 
among the most corrupt in Roman history. 
And the subsequent decay of learning was the 
effect more than the cause of moral degeneracy. 
And it is the conviction of many among us in 
advanced life, who can remember the two 
generations before them, and observe the two 
following them, that the moral tone of society 
has not, to say the least, kept pace with the 
increase and diffusion of knowledge. And 
there are not wanting those who affirm posi- 
tively, that the loss in morals has been greater 
than the gain in learning. Considering the 
measure of light now enjoyed, we have cer- 
tainly no occasion to boast of the moral purity 
and vigor of society. The frequency and enor- 
mity of crimes, the prevalence of social and 
vicious dissipation, to say nothing of profanity 
and blasphemy, forbid our glorying, lest we 
glory in our shame. 

And, most certainly, it cannot be supposed 
that the gospel has contributed materially and 
directly to the prevalence of these abominations, 
for it is in continual protest against them. The 



INCIDENT TO KNOWLEDGE. 69 

explanation was long ago recorded by the 
prophet Isaiah : "Thy wisdom and thy knowl- 
edge it hath perverted thee, and thou hast said 
in thine heart, I am, and none else beside me." 
And to the same purpose are the words of the 
apostle: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity 
edifieth. And if any man think that he know- 
eth any thing, he knoweth nothing yet as he 
ought to know." Does the gospel then set its 
face against knowledge? By no means. The 
same apostle, writing to the same church, used 
this language: "Brethren, be not children in 
understanding : howbeit in malice be ye chil- 
dren, but in understanding be men." It is the 
abuse of knowledge against which we are 
warned. If men think they have made great 
attainments in it, they are prone to be proud, 
puffed up with the conceit of their own conse- 
quence. And this pride stands in the way of 
further attainments, if it does not make useless 
or pernicious those already gained. The influ- 
ence of the gospel tends to abase this pride, 
and keep men ever learning and ever turning 
their knowledge to good account. 



7° A CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS 

It may indeed be said, that the more thor- 
oughly a man is educated, the less likely is he 
to be proud. We freely allow it, provided his 
education be symmetrical, including the knowl- 
edge of God as well as the knowledge of nature, 
and the training of the moral as well as the 
intellectual part. But the question is, How to 
get men safely up to this point of a thorough 
education : how to carry them past the perils 
which beset them by the way, and to give them 
the requisite impulse to push forward to the 
goal. Pride is apt to spoil the work while in 
progress. Here is needed a sanative moral 
influence to humble and quicken the soul. And 
this is furnished by the gospel. Here we are 
taught the nothingness of human excellence 
and acquirements. Here we learn to put a 
true estimate, both in kind and degree, upon 
the treasures of human learning. We discover 
that the wisdom of the world is nought without 
the knowledge of God. We see that the grand- 
est heights of human thought are infinitely 
below the thoughts of God. 

If pride does not stay the march of intellect, 



INCIDENT TO KNOWLEDGE. 7 1 

ambition is likely to convert it into a crusade 
of violence and destruction. When the prog- 
ress of knowledge is rapid, great forces are 
developed, great schemes conceived, which will 
prove a bane or a blessing according to the 
direction which is given them. And this direc- 
tion depends chiefly upon the prevailing moral 
tone. If this is corrupt, a fierce competition 
for wealth, honor, and power, will generate 
gigantic frauds in business and politics, unsettle 
the confidence of men in each other, and not 
unlikely desolate a continent by the sweep of 
war. If, on the other hand, the moral tone is 
pure and high, these forces will be made the 
instruments of a beneficent progress in the con- 
veniences and comforts of life, in the general 
culture of society, and in all the arts and ap- 
pliances and resources which characterize an 
advancing civilization. What can give the 
requisite moral tone but the gospel? Knowing 
the power of self-interest and carnal ambition, 
we shall stultify ourselves if we suppose that 
the sense of honor and self-respect, or the gen- 
erous sympathies native to the human heart, 



7 2 A CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS 

will alone furnish any effectual restraint upon 
the lawless passions. Nothing but moral prin- 
ciple, born of the Divine Spirit, and supported 
by the high sanctions of divine revelation, can 
meet the emergency. In the midst of light, 
which shows men how to wield the arts of 
Satanic cunning, there must be the regener- 
ating and sanctifying efficiency of the Holy 
Ghost, or society, — under the spur of a mad 
ambition for great things, of honor, power, 
gain, and pleasure, — will rush into the abyss 
of corruption and destruction. 

If it be said that the gospel has no appreci- 
able influence in counteracting the fierce passion 
for gain and self-aggrandizement, stimulated 
by the facilities which knowledge supplies, 
we answer that it has, in fact, much less than 
we desire, but that without it the evil would 
be far worse. And we further allege that, but 
for the teachings of unbelief, it would have far 
greater power. Where received, the gospel 
does moderate, if not destroy, the ambition to 
get great things for one's self. And but for 
those who deny its claims, it would be far more 



INCIDENT TO KNOWLEDGE. 73 

generally received. Those who would take 
the reins out of its hands know not what they 
do. Their conceit of superiority is a dangerous 
thing for themselves and the world. Let them 
increase in knowledge as rapidly as they can, 
but let them never suppose themselves wiser 
than God. It were well for them to recall the 
story of the Titans attempting to scale the 
heights of heaven, and of Phaeton to guide 
the chariot of the sun. It were better still for 
them to ponder, with a teachable mind, the 
inspired account of the first human pair, who, 
deceived by the father of lies, and aspiring to 
be gods in wisdom and knowledge, fell from 
their high estate, lost the pure image of their 
Creator, and let in upon themselves and the 
world floods of error, sin, and woe. At first, 
as Milton writes, — 

" As with new wine intoxicated both, 
They swim in mirth, and fancy that they feel 
Divinity within them breeding wings 
Wherewith to scorn the earth." 

But at length reflection comes ; they wake from 
their guilty dream, and seek a covering for 
their shame. 



74 ^ CORRECTIVE OF THE FAULTS, <&c. 

"They sat them down to weep; nor only tear6 
Rained at their eyes, but high winds worse within 
Began to rise, high passions, anger, hate, 
Mistrust, suspicion, discord, and shook sore 
Their inward state of mind, calm region once 
And full of peace, now lost and turbulent: 
For understanding ruled not, and the will 
Heard not her lore; both in subjection now 
To sensual appetite, who from beneath 
Usurping over sovereign reason claimed superior sway." 



CAPABLE OF MEETING, &c. ' 75 



IX. 



CAPABLE OF MEETING THE GROWING WANTS 
OF THE SOUL. 

TT must not be forgotten that the more men 
know the more they want. Desire not only 
keeps pace with attainment, but goes ever be- 
yond it, and even grows with greater rapidity. 
Few and simple things satisfy the desires of 
the savage. A rude wigwam for his dwelling, 
the primeval forest for his hunting ground, a 
little fish and maize for his food, skins for his 
clothing, the war dance for his amusement, 
and some low, vague notions of a divinity, 
with corresponding rites of worship for his reli- 
gion, — these meet the chief part of his felt 
necessities. But to the man of cultivation and 
refinement they are as nothing, or perhaps 
even an offence and irritation. Better and 



76 CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

greater things than these are required for his 
comfort day by day. And with all his inge- 
nuity of invention, and facilities of communi- 
cation, he cannot obtain supplies with sufficient 
rapidity, and in sufficient measure, to make 
him content. His eagerness for something 
new is stimulated rather than satisfied by every 
fresh acquisition. The thirst for knowledge 
increases with attainment, like the passion for 
gold. Larger and more refined conceptions 
in religion reach up for something still greater 
and higher. 

Now the question arises, Is the soul doomed 
to this indefinite expansion of its desires without 
the possibility of finding any object vast enough 
to fill them, and keep them filled always and 
everywhere? This question must be answered 
in the affirmative, unless there is some Being 
able to do more for us than all the mythologies, 
the philosophies, the arts, and the sciences of 
men, either in their present condition or in any 
improved state to which the studies and labors 
of human genius may bring them. The uni- 
verse is indeed vast, and we are yet far short 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 77 

of a complete knowledge of its manifold objects, 
processes, relations, and uses. A great meas- 
ure of satisfaction is yet to be enjoyed from the 
discoveries which will be made. But these 
discoveries w r ill develop the human soul into 
still grander proportions, and set it upon asking 
questions still more difficult to be answered. 
And what shall be the end? Is there no rest- 
ing place for this aspiring, yearning, expanding 
spirit? 

The gospel answers this question. It brings 
us to the Infinite in a personal form, and satis- 
fying relations. This great, growing, human 
mind it sets face to face w 7 ith the Infinite under- 
standing, and bids it commune with the Author 
of its being, — bids it ask its far-reaching ques- 
tions of Him who gave the power to ask, and 
holds the power to answer. On nothing below 
Him can rest the fully awakened and developed 
human mind. All possibilities of thought and 
knowledge are with Him. And He is acces- 
sible to His rational creatures. He may be 
known of them, and in knowing Him they may 
be satisfied. If they know less of Him than 



7§ CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

they desire, they may increase in that knowl- 
edge, and go on increasing for ever, and find 
in all increase added joy. The Father of our 
spirits, the God and Father of our Lord Jesus 
Christ, is the God of all comfort, the God of 
peace. To the best knowledge He adds the 
gifts of faith and hope. 

It is matter of experience that many of the 
most gifted and cultured souls, reconciled to 
Him, resting upon Him, have found peace, 
even that peace which passeth all understand- 
ing. He who has found a gospel which can 
inspire, and a God who can answer, such a 
prayer as that of the great apostle for the 
church at Ephesus, must be satisfied, however 
vast and varied his desires, or however rapid 
the rate of their increase : " That he would 
grant you, according to the riches of his glory, 
to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the 
inner man ; that Christ may dwell in your hearts 
by faith ; that ye, being rooted and grounded in 
love, may be able to comprehend with all saints 
what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and 
height ; and to know the love of Christ, which 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 79 

passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with 
all the fulness of God." From the ever exult- 
ant soul of such a man must break forth the 
doxology : "Now unto him that is able to do 
exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or 
think, according to the power that worketh in 
us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ 
Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. 
Amen." 

The question of range, or compass of thought, 
is not the only one answered for the soul in the 
God of the gospel. The need of forgiveness is 
liable to be felt more and more, as the soul 
advances in the knowledge of God and itself. 
His holiness will appear more glorious, its 
impurity more loathsome ; His authority more 
sacred, its sin more criminal ; His displeasure 
more awful, its guilt more inexcusable. It is 
unquestionably true, in many cases at least, 
that the more men grow, both in knowledge 
and grace, the deeper is their sense of sin, the 
more they abhor themselves. Not sin in gen- 
eral alone, nor some gross forms of it observed 
in others, but their own heart sins take on an 



80 CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

enormity, in their view, which is quite inex- 
pressible. No sane man will question either 
the intelligence or the comparative purity of 
Jonathan Edwards. But this saintly man has 
left on record this expression of his sense of 
sin : " When I look into my heart, and take 
a view of my wickedness, it looks like an abyss 
infinitely deeper than hell. And it appears to 
me, that were it not for free grace, exalted and 
raised up to the infinite height of all the fulness 
and glory of the great Jehovah, and the arm 
of his power and grace stretched forth in all the 
majesty of his power, and in all the glory of his 
sovereignty, I should appear sunk down in my 
sins below hell itself; far beyond the sight of 
every thing but the eye of sovereign grace, 
that can pierce even down to such a depth. 
And yet it seems to me, that my conviction of 
sin is exceeding small and faint : it is enough 
to amaze me, that I have no more sense of my 
sins." These words were deliberately chosen 
to convey not a momentary but an abiding 
impression. The sentence immediately pre- 
ceding is : "Very often, for these many years, 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 8l 

these expressions are in my mind and in my 
mouth, — Infinite upon infinite, Infinite upon 
infinite." 

These are not the utterances of a narrow 
soul, cramped and darkened by a morbid mel- 
ancholy, but of a royal nature, grand in its 
perceptions and its emotions. While enter- 
taining these views of sin, he was not despon- 
dent, but he could say : " Of late years I have 
had a more full and constant sense of the abso- 
lute sovereignty of God, and a delight in that 
sovereignty ; and have had more of a sense of 
the glory of Christ, as a mediator revealed in 
the gospel. On one Saturday night in partic- 
ular, I. had such a discovery of the excellency 
of the gospel above all other doctrines, that I 
could not but say to myself, This is my chosen 
light, my chosen doctrine; and of Christ, This 
is my chosen Prophet. It appeared sweet, 
beyond all expression, to follow Christ, and to 
be taught and enlightened and instructed by 
Him ; to learn of Him and live to Him. Another 
Saturday night (January, 1739, thirty-five years 
of age) I had such a sense how sweet and blessed 



82 CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

a thing it was to walk in the way of duty, to 
do that which was right and meet to be done, 
and agreeable to the holy mind of God, that it 
caused me to break forth into a kind of loud 
weeping, which held me some time, so that I 
was forced to shut myself up and fasten the 
doors. I could not but, as it were, cry out, 
How happy are they which do that which is 
right in the sight of God ! They are blessed 
indeed ! they are the happy ones ! " 

Such a sense of sin as was habitual with this 
great and good man can be met by nothing 
less, nothing else, than "the glorious gospel of 
the ever blessed God." And such a sense may 
any man have if he possesses the requisite 
intelligence, and is enlightened by the Spirit 
of God. There is a Power working among 
men adequate to a similar result in the case of 
any competent, well-instructed mind. The Holy 
Ghost can sweep away the sophistries of men, 
so energize the conscience, and so reveal the 
glory of the Lord, that they shall cry out, 
"Woe is me, I am undone!" "Behold, I am 
vile ! " And the providence of God may put 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 83 

other thoughts into minds little accustomed to 
serious reflection. The voice which once shook 
the earth may also shake the heavens, and, by 
confusing the order of nature, confound the 
thoughts of the wise. Those who have been 
loudest in their eulogies of her may be most at 
their wits' end, when "there shall be signs in 
the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars, and 
upon the earth distress of nations; the sea and 
the waves roaring ; men's hearts failing them 
for fear, and for looking after those things 
which are coming on the earth." 

If a generation, wise in its own conceit, will 
not learn the fear of the Lord from the teach- 
ings of His word and the common works of His 
hand, there are wonders of counsel and might 
at His call. In any event, He w T ill be exalted in 
the earth, and men shall acknowledge that He 
sitteth King for ever, enthroned high above all 
the works of His own hands, high over all the 
imaginations and doings of the children of 
pride. Shaken by His power, convicted by 
His Spirit, the boldest deniers of His presence 
and agency, the most complacent worshippers 



84 CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

of nature and themselves, may be seized with a 
trembling like that of Belshazzar, when the 
fingers of a man's hand came forth to write 
upon the wall of his palace. No man can 
safely affirm that he is proof against an over- 
whelming sense of his sin against God, or 
secure from an overwhelming fear of His dis- 
pleasure, unless he has laid hold of the hope 
set before him in the gospel. Before such a 
sense of sin, the doctrines of naturalism and 
the sacrifices of paganism flee away like chaff 
before the wind. 

But supposing there were no such thing as 
sin, or fear, or wrath, still the soul of growing 
intelligence would need love, both subjective 
and objective, which can be found only in and 
through the gospel. This is the great radical 
want of every soul. And only that God, whose 
grace bringeth salvation, can either inspire in 
us, or bestow upon us, an adequate love. Ad- 
miration of the beautiful is not the same thing as 
love of the good ; and, in order to be complete, 
we must do more than admire, — we must love. 
We may love an unworthy object inordinately ; 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 85 

but the power of loving cannot be fully devel- 
oped without embracing a great and good 
object ; cannot reach its highest without finding 
and resting upon the Greatest and the Best. 
Beyond all other objects ever known or con- 
ceived of, the creating, preserving, redeeming 
God of the Scriptures has power, and power 
because He has worth, to beget and develop 
love in the human soul, — a love true, pure, 
great, tender, active, enduring, eternal. In 
many ways is this worth displayed, this power 
exerted ; but beyond and above all else in the 
redemption through Christ Jesus. Here, most 
emphatically, is the hiding of this power. There 
is nothing great enough and good enough for 
us to love with all the heart, but this God of 
grace. Naturalism, pantheism, may set before 
us marvels to excite our wonder and admiration, 
but they give us no such object to love. 

On the other hand, there is no other such 
Being, no other being great and good enough 
to love us as we long to be loved. Precious, 
indeed, is the love of human hearts. But in 
feeling and purpose they come short of our 



86 CAPABLE OF MEETING THE 

necessities, especially when, by reflection and 
culture and divine teaching, we become con- 
scious of the greatness of our need. We might 
be comfortable, possibly content, with nothing 
higher or stronger than the devoted attachment 
of pure unselfish human hearts, but our joy 
could not be full. Room has God made in 
these hearts for His own infinite love, and room 
that never can bejilled by any thing else. The 
language of the man who has become conscious 
of his need is : "As the hart panteth after the 
water-brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, 
O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the 
living God." And the language of one who 
has found the supply is : " Whom have I in 
heaven but thee ? and there is none upon 
earth that I desire besides thee. . . . God is 
the strength of my heart, and my portion for 
ever." 

Impersonal nature, however great and varied 
her charms, cannot give us love. This great- 
est, most enduring want of the soul can be 
met, is met, and we have abundant reason to 
believe will be met" for ever, by the Father 



GROWING WANTS OF THE SOUL. 87 

of our spirits and the Saviour of our souls. 
" Herein is love, not that we loved God, but 
that he loved us, and sent his Son to be the 
propitiation for our sins." "And we have 
known and believed the love that God hath to 
us. God is love ; and he that dwelleth in love 
dwelleth in God, and God in him." 

Thus being loved", and loving thus, we must 
be supremely and for ever blessed. To a soul 
thus developed, ennobled, satisfied, what are 
the trials incident to this mortal life? Those 
who can say, w The love of God is shed abroad 
in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given 
unto us," can also add, "We rejoice in hope 
of the glory of God ; we glory in tribulation 
also, knowing that tribulation worketh patience, 
and patience experience, and experience hope, 
and hope maketh not ashamed." And may 
we not confidently affirm that this love Creates 
a better atmosphere for the cure, the comfort, 
and the true development of our poor stricken 
humanity, than that which surrounds the purest 
philosophers and the noblest teachers of sci- 
ence, who have learned nothing in the school 



88 CAPABLE OF MEETING, &c. 

of Christ? What else can so soften, refine, 
adorn, and ennoble the nature made rugged 
and selfish by indwelling sin, and made bitter 
and reckless by the wrongs inflicted upon it? 
Knowledge we do not despise ; but love, God's 
own to us, and such in us for God and man as 
the gospel alone can inspire, we must have, to 
smooth the rugged way of life, and fit us for 
our mission to our kind. In this atmosphere 
we would live and die, and live again, and live 
for ever. 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 89 



% 



X. 



GRANDEUR OF ITS PRACTICAL MISSION. 

HHE gospel work is one to invite and en- 
gross the very best -powers of our minds 
and our hearts. It should be reckoned a privi- 
lege and not a burden. We naturally thirst 
for something to do. Indolence has indeed 
been spoken of facetiously as "our original 
sin." And there is a coloring of truth in the 
representation. And yet the common aversion 
to work is not an indisposition toward all 
activity, but only toward certain forms of it. 
The little child is not simply restless, but eager 
also to do something. That something may 
not be useful, but it requires the exercise of 
strength, calculation, and perhaps all the little 
stock of knowledge as yet possessed. It would 
probably be as correct to say that men acquire 



9° GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

as to say that they inherit idle tendencies. 
And never can a man be fully satisfied with 
himself without employing his faculties and 
energies in some useful calling. It is not 
really a question with us whether we shall be 
active or inactive, so long as we are able to 
accomplish any thing either with our brains or 
with our hands. We are impelled by an 
inward, if not an outward, necessity to be 
doing something daily. The impulse is not 
indeed sufficient with all, for the doing of any 
thing like what they are capable of. But if 
those comparatively idle are satisfied with them- 
selves, their course does not commend itself to 
any earnest, noble mind. It is barely possible 
that a man may be so indolent, that he cannot 
even appreciate the schemes and achievements 
of more earnest men. But, ordinarilv, those 
least efficient are ready to praise the man of 
lofty ambition and heroic labors. And some- 
times, by such examples, the idle are made 
ashamed of their aimless and useless lives. 

It being settled, then, that we are to do some- 
thing, are to employ our energies upon some 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 9 1 

kind of business, the question arises, How may 
they be employed in the most worthy, useful, 
and satisfying manner? The work now under 
consideration furnishes the best answer to this 
question. Here is a mission, whose tendencies 
are unmistakably good, — more than this, are 
the best conceivable, — and whose measure 
gives scope for all the faculties and energies 
of any and every man. The tendencies are so 
obvious, and so well understood in a Christian 
community, that there is no occasion to dwell 
upon them here. True gospel work embraces 
every right form of teaching, healing, purify- 
ing, elevating, strengthening, enriching, and 
comforting ministration. Its aim is to form a 
perfect character, fill the mind with the knowl- 
edge of the greatest things, and the heart with 
the purest and sublimest joys. In connection 
with this, it favors such alleviations of the ills, 
and such enhancement of the benefits, pertain- 
ing to the outward estate, as the highest well- 
being of the individual and of society may 
require. To the work of the gospel, carried 
out according to the plan and in the spirit of 



9 2 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

its great Author, no candid, truth-loving, and 
benevolent mind can object. No man can pos- 
sibly desire to do any thing better for his fellow- 
men, any thing which will more certainly secure 
and increase their moral worth, or redound 
more to their lasting happiness. The kind of 
work, taken in a comprehensive sense, is just 
what an enlightened reason and a pure heart 
must judge most fit and needful to be done. 

But this work is great as well as good. And 
by this characteristic, it is in a special manner 
commended to an enlightened mind. With the 
progress of knowledge, in science and art, men 
are learning to do great things; i.e., things 
which are great in comparison with the achieve- 
ments, or even the ideas, of an earlier age. 
They project and accomplish gigantic schemes. 
They make highways for thought under the 
ocean, for trade and travel across the conti- 
nents. They amass splendid fortunes, and 
rear magnificent palaces. They are moving 
toward the recognition of all nations as mem- 
bers of one great family, with common interests, 
and made for mutual acquaintance and profit. 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 93 

They are looking to the ends of the earth in 
their calculations for gain or pleasure. Not 
a few despise small plans, and are impatient 
of slow gains. They are for a larger place and 
bolder operations than those which satisfied their 
fathers. 

And not in material enterprises alone are men 
making themselves familiar with broad plans 
and great endeavors. In the domain of knowl- 
edge they are pushing their discoveries into the 
depths below and the heights above, laying 
bare secrets of the ocean, and uncovering the 
face of stars, which have been hid from the 
foundation of the world. In ethics and politics 
and social relations, they are agitating, if not 
compassing, great revolutions. These things 
all spring from a growing intelligence, although 
some of their experiments may be little to its 
credit. But however crude some of the theories, 
or harmful even some of the expedients, which 
are born of this mental quickening, they foster 
a passion for schemes of amazing magnitude 
and splendor. It is requisite, therefore, if a 
moral undertaking is to hold its own, and win 



94 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

new victories, in such an age, that it should 
have a vastness in keeping with these schemes 
of secular wisdom and enterprise, or far out- 
reaching them all. 

And this is the character of the Christian 
enterprise, considered as an agency for effect- 
ing changes in the character and fortunes of 
mankind. Its grandeur is made evident when 
we . consider the material which it takes in 
hand, the forces by which it shapes this mate- 
rial to its purpose, the excellence of the per- 
fected result, and the extent of its actual or 
intended operations. 

What is the material in hand? It is the 
human soul, or man as a moral being, — intel- 
ligent, responsible, immortal. The business 
of Christianity, specifically, is to transform this 
being into the likeness of God, and set him in 
relations of fellowship and co-operation with 
God. Of the value of this soul, no adequate 
estimate can be formed by any mind which 
cannot fathom infinity and eternity. The im- 
pressive, the startling words of our Saviour, 
r What shall it profit a man if he shall gain the 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 95 

whole world, and lose his own soul ?" fail to 
convey to us any thing like a full, an exhaustive 
idea of its priceless worth. How high, com- 
paratively, does the rational being stand on the 
scale of created objects? At the head of this 
lower and visible creation, and but a little below 
the angels, is this creature man. And above 
the angels we know of none but God. And, 
indeed, we are told that "God created man in 
his own image." Reason, imagination, judg- 
ment, conscience, will, what faculties are these ! 
To what a development of strength, order, and 
beauty they may be brought ! The desires, 
the aspirations, the passions, the affections, 
w T hat powers are these ! To what degradation 
and shame they may sink, or to what dignity 
and glory they may lift, the soul ! What sus- 
ceptibilities, what capabilities, in this creature 
man ! Shut up to this little corner of the 
universe, made the tenant of a frail earthly 
tabernacle, compassed about with infirmities, 
he can nevertheless send his thoughts back- 
ward far beyond the beginning of measured 
time, and onward far beyond the point at which 



9 6 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

time shall be no longer, and outward beyond 
the orbits of uncounted and invisible worlds, 
and upward to the very throne of the eternal 
God. He can frame instruments, by which he 
may bring to light the hidden things of dark- 
ness, searching with equal ease the microscopic 
and the telescopic spheres, and making real to 
his apprehension in these domains an infinitude 
of things small and great. 

And these magnificent capabilities may all 
be used in quick response to the mandates of 
the eternal King, with the conscious and the 
willing purpose to glorify Him, and further the 
great ends by Him ordained. The laws of 
nature are beautiful in their simplicity, order, 
and majesty, but they have neither conscious- 
ness nor volition. The instincts of animals are 
often charming in their accuracy, strength, and 
utility, — their affections, also, in their tenderness 
and fitness, — but they cannot entertain a moral 
purpose, nor perform a moral action. Here 
man stands alone, or with the angels and with 
God. Oh that in the best sense it could be said 
that here he stands! But, alas ! he has fallen 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 97 

by his iniquity; and yet, in his fall, has not 
made his soul less precious. Lost in a spiritual 
sense, and most unworthy, and yet in God's 
thought too precious to be lost, without any and 
every practicable sacrifice to redeem it ! The 
recovery of this soul, whose redemption is so 
precious, is the work of the gospel. Is there 
anv other work like it ? Should some evil 
power quench the light and destroy the heat 
of the sun, so that the earth and all the other 
planets would roll around it in darkness, deso- 
lation, and death, and then a good spirit should 
rekindle its fires, and so bring back to us the 
old brightness, beauty, and life, he would be 
a benefactor worthy of unmeasured praise, and 
yet less a benefactor than this gospel, which 
brings life and immortality to light ; which lays 
hold of dead souls, and wakes them to newness 
of life; which brings these wandering stars, 
that were on their way to the blackness of 
darkness for ever, back to their place, and 
pours upon them the effulgence of the Sun of 
righteousness. 

And by what forces does the gospel shape this 

7 



q8 grandeur of its mission. 

precious soul into the likeness of God f The 
purest and the richest of which we have any 
knowledge, or of which we are able to conceive, 
— the attractions of love, human and divine 
love. "The Spirit and the bride say, Come." 
A word first about the office of human love. 
Men are employed as instruments in persuading 
their fellow-men to receive the gospel. And 
if they expect any success in this work, they 
must speak the truth in love. This has been 
exemplified in the history of many successful 
workers in the vineyard of the Lord. Take 
one example, that of the apostle Paul. Such 
love had he for his people that he said, w I 
could wish that myself were accursed from 
Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according 
to the flesh." And this was his way of pleading 
with men to receive the gospel : "Now, then, 
we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God 
did beseech you by us : we pray you in Christ's 
stead, be ye reconciled to God." This love for 
souls, which is born of love to God, is the purest 
and the strongest which man bears toward his 
fellow-man. The love of husbands and wives, 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 99 

of parents and children, is often extremely- 
tender and beautiful. But, to this, additional 
charms and strength are imparted by a true 
apprehension of the worth of the soul, and a 
Christian concern for its salvation. 

And even where there are no ties of kindred, 
or interest, or friendship, in the common accep- 
tation of that term, this gospel love is often a 
consuming passion. It is benevolence quick- 
ened and intensified by the fear that souls will 
perish, by a dread for them of everlasting burn- 
ings, and by the anticipation of their unending 
felicity. How can we possibly exert our influ- 
ence so well as through this affection of grace ? 
What are personal charms, or learning, or 
wealth, or position, as means of influence, com- 
pared with this undying, unselfish, unspeakable 
love of souls? And we are not to reckon this 
kind of human love as unworthy of a place in 
this great work of drawing men to goodness 
and to God. Even divine love, that it might 
be made most efficient, became allied with the 
human. Christ loved as a man not less truly 
than as God. In that tearful lament over Jeru- 



IOO GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

salem, we perceive the yearning of human as 
well as divine compassion. By His lifting up 
does He draw all men to Him. And God is 
in Christ reconciling the world unto Himself. 

And when we come to speak of divine love, 
in distinction from human, we can only touch 
an ocean without bottom and without shore. 
Here is all the fulness of God, for God is love. 
The ways in which this love are expressed are 
countless, and many of them amazing. The 
bounties and the charms of nature declare it; 
the care of daily providence confirms it ; the 
facts, ordinances, and promises of revelation 
magnify it ; and the history of grace through 
all the weary ages illustrates it. In no one of 
these departments can we measure its fulness. 
The world around us and the heavens above us 
are crowded with the shining tokens of God's 
wisdom and beneficence, of His care for our 
sustenance and our enjoyment. The history 
of every day is replete with evidence that ff His 
tender mercies are over all His works." But 
more especially in the gospel of His grace is 
this love made known. Here. come to view the 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. IOI 

length, the breadth, the depth, and the height, 
in each of which it passeth knowledge. 

The commandment which meets us here is 
holy, just, and good. The types and shadows 
of the earlier dispensation are full of pleasing 
intimations of the grace to be revealed. And 
the coming of the great Deliverer was such 
an unspeakable boon, that prophets must be 
commissioned, in a long line of succession, to 
predict it, and angels charged to appear in 
hosts to celebrate it. And the Spirit of inspi- 
ration, who searcheth all things, yea, the deep 
things of God, and ? who is also the Spirit of 
truth, proclaims : "In this was manifested the 
love of God toward us, because that God sent his 
only begotten Son into the world, that we might 
live through him." Many times and in many 
forms is this repeated in the true sayings of God. 
This is the sum of the good tidings of great joy. 
And the Spirit is ready to make this message of 
grace effectual to the salvation of all them that 
believe. The demonstration and the applica- 
tion are both of God. Here we behold the 
Father giving, the Son dying, the Spirit reveal- 



102 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

ing, Each and All intent upon our redemption. 
The cross is the consecrated sign, and the 
church the enduring monument, of this eternal 
love of the triune God. With the cords of this 
love does He draw and bind men to Himself. 
And in this work He grants us also a share ; 
putting it upon us, if we will consent, to make 
known the exceeding riches of His grace, and 
to exhibit in the purity and blessedness of our 
own lives the benign efficacy of His transform- 
ing power. Can we elsewhere wield so choice 
and potent an influence as this? Looking at 
this kind of power, and considering wherein 
its glory lies, noting the disposition in which it 
began, the purpose by which it was disclosed, 
the sacrifice by which it was proved, and the 
way in which it is applied, can we not see that 
there is no honor like that of being " laborers 
together with God "? 

But we must -pass on to look at the -perfected 
result of this gospel work. At every stage it 
is a good work, but it cannot be fully under- 
stood until it is finished. In one sense it is 
finished when the work of sanctification is com- 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. IO$ 

plete, when every thought of tfie renewed 
man has been brought into captivity to Christ. 
We are permitted to see some examples, in 
which this work seems to be nearly or quite 
complete. And we must confess that a perfect 
"Christian is the highest style of man." And 
the highest style of man is the best thing upon 
the earth. A Christian is not perfect until the 
same mind is in him that is in Christ, — the same 
not only in its general spirit and purpose, but 
also in all subordinate particulars so far as we 
may have the mind of Christ. He must be a 
singular man, or a reckless one, who, with the 
Gospels in his hand, can fail to see and confess 
that in Christ our humanity finds its complete- 
ness and crown. That is a distempered fancy, 
which dreams of going beyond and improving 
upon this model of all excellence. No man, 
with a decent regard for truth, has ventured to 
say that He does not hold a very lofty place. 
Even the followers of Mohammed allow this. 
And few, if any, will be found to deny that it 
would be an infinite advantage if the world 
generally could be brought up to this high 



104 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

standard, an immense advantage to any com- 
munity which can be named, however select, 
enlightened, advanced. And, without a ques- 
tion, it will be discovered that any who think 
they are going beyond are really falling be- 
hind. This is just what man needs, — no less, 
no more, — to reach the measure of the stature 
of the fulness of Christ. And if this is the 
point of perfection, then it must be a good 
thing, the best thing practicable, to be pressing 
ourselves and drawing others, with all our 
might, toward it. What we do at any partic- 
ular time is to be estimated with reference to 
the completeness toward which it is reaching. 
And it is matter for devout thankfulness and 
rejoicing, that He who hath begun a good work 
in us or others will carry it on unto perfection. 
There is no reason to fear that we shall lose 
our labor, when it is expended upon new-born 
souls. The earlier parts of the work are not 
less essential than the later, which may seem 
more excellent. He that soweth and he that 
reapeth may rejoice together. 

Individual perfection, great and desirable as 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 105 

it is, cannot show all the strength and beauty 
of gospel work. This takes account of man as 
a social being, and aims not only to make him 
worthy of his place in the family, in society, 
in the church, and in the state, but also to 
make all these worthy of him. And, obviously, 
in proportion as individuals are perfected, the 
associations of them, whether larger or smaller, 
will become so also. But organizations, how- 
ever faultless in theory, will be imperfect in 
practice, while the individuals composing them 
are imperfect. The true method of securing 
the completeness of society, in all its forms, or 
that upon which the chief reliance should be 
placed, is by pressing individuals closer and 
closer to the great standard of righteousness. 
When there is no wrong in individuals, there 
can be none in society. And when the pre- 
ponderance in any association or community is 
decidedly in favor of the righteous, it will be 
an easy thing to bring institutions, customs, 
and laws, to the most desirable form, and 
work them with the requisite efficiency. And, 
indeed, we might almost say that in this condi- 



io6 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 



tion of the body, — domestic, social, or politic, 
— these things will regulate themselves, so 
spontaneous and powerful will be the general 
impulse to shape, preserve, and use them, 
according to the rights and needs of all parties 
in interest. 

But the perfected man and perfected society, 
as they are or may be seen upon this earthly 
theatre of action, disclose only the beginning 
of the grand result at which the gospel aims. 
These are introductory : the great life, the 
great joys, belong to the future, the eternal 
state. This is the crowning glory of gospel 
work, that it is for ever. The choicest works 
of human genius, which are of the earth earthy, 
must in time feel the touch of decay ; must, at 
least, share in the destructive changes to which 
the earth itself is reserved. But this work of 
grace, wrought in deathless souls, will change 
only from glory to glory. The risen body, 
incorruptible and immortal, joined with the 
glorified spirit, sinless and raised above every 
weakness, these in exact harmony, and in the 
presence of God and the Lamb ! — what higher, 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION, 107 

what better, what fuller, can there be than this? 
What more is there to contemplate or receive, 
except the multiplying of the numbers by whom 
this fulness is enjoyed? 

And this idea of numbers brings us to the 
remaining thought named, as indicating the 
true character and grandeur of the gospel 
work. A scheme so high in its origin, so 
peculiar and wonderful in its development, so 
noble in its purpose, so rich in its provisions, 
so genial in its spirit, so attractive in its forces, 
and so benignant in its operation, must be fitted, 
and, we should say, also designed, for a preva- 
lence in proportion to its excellence. And if 
we ask the great Author concerning His pur- 
pose, He declares to us that w the field is the 
world," and the day of its power is until the end 
of the world. He solemnly charges us to "go 
into all the world, and preach the gospel to every 
creature." There is no place for halting, until 
the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the 
Lord. We are not allowed to overlook either 
the near or the remote. The first apostles, 
whose commission covered all nations, must 



I08 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION, 

begin at Jerusalem. Those who had high 
thoughts of the kingdom must not despise any 
little one. In this comprehensiveness of design, 
the gospel is like the creating wisdom of God. 
The little insect — too small for our unaided 
vision, too feeble for our care — has received 
from the divine Hand as perfect a finish, and 
from the divine resources as perfect a provision, 
as ourselves, or as any brightest orb or angel 
in the heights of heaven. The gospel is for 
man, in a very important sense for man only ; 
but it is for universal man. And the business 
of those called into the vineyard of the Lord is 
to give free course to the gospel in all lands, 
as quickly as possible, by all the facilities at 
their command for so high and spiritual a pur- 
pose. In Christian communities, in a large 
number of Christian families, new subjects are 
coming forward to be moulded by its spirit, or 
to go out and wield their influence against it. 
In the church itself are some to be reclaimed 
from their wanderings, many to be urged 
onward and upward to higher attainments in 
grace, and nobler achievements for Christ. 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. IO9 

Some have a name to live, and lo ! they are 
dead. To these, of whatever name, — Greek, 
Roman, Armenian, or Nestorian, — -the gospel 
is to be brought as a quickening power. And 
in the regions beyond, millions rise upon mil- 
lions, who have not yet heard the precious 
Name. They have their own religions, but in 
them is but little to guide, purify, or comfort, 
nothing to save, their souls. They are wedded 
to their superstitions, and may think themselves 
wiser than those who come to show them the 
way of life. 

And some there are, who would leave them 
under their delusions, because, in their view, 
these, if not the best things, are at least well 
enough for them. They even account it a 
reproach to Christianity, that it aims to super- 
sede all these, because, as it alleges, they can- 
not save the soul. They esteem it intolerance 
in the advocates of the gospel, if not also in its 
Author, that they allow no other foundation for 
human hope. Nothing is plainer than this, 
that Christ, in His own apprehension, came 
not to be a king among kings, a lord among 



HO GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

lords, but the King of kings and Lord of lords* 
There is a sense in which the gospel is uncom- 
promising, full as it is of all sweetest tenderness 
and gentle charities. It claims the whole world, 
because it is the word of the one only, the liv- 
ing, and the true God, to the creatures whom 
He alone has made, and whom alone His only 
Son can redeem. It claims the whole world, 
because it speaks in the name of the one great 
Sovereign of the world. Christ claims the faith 
and obedience of all men, because He came 
down from heaven, and gave Himself a ransom 
for all. 

Lords many and gods many there may be 
in the faiths of fallen men, and these may have 
their rivalries, but He who made the heavens 
and the earth acknowledges none of them. 
Knowing that there is no God except Himself, 
it is His right to require that men shall not 
acknowledge any other. Christ, the only real 
incarnation of God, may justly claim the hom- 
age of all for whom He became flesh, and for 
whom in the flesh He laid down His life. To 
do otherwise would be to deny Himself, to 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. Ill 

bring Himself down to a level with the cre- 
ations of men. While He rejects nothing that 
is true and good in the teachings of any man, 
He claims to be "the Way, the Truth, and the 
Life." 

Confucius, Gautama, Zoroaster, Moham- 
med, and many others revered by multitudes 
as sources of divine knowledge, taught much 
truth ; but not one of them is a Saviour, not one 
of them is King of truth. When the gospel 
comes to their adherents, it does not require 
them to renounce any true doctrine, or abandon 
any right practice. And yet, without a ques- 
tion, their systems of faith and worship as such 
will be overturned by the gospel, wherever it 
is received. And what harm, we may here 
inquire, if all these systems should give place to 
the gospel? Are they doing such great things 
for their adherents, that these would suffer loss 
if they should be taken away, and Christianity 
installed in their stead? This question may be 
answered by asking two more. Where are 
the nations to-day, that cling to any of these 
systems, and yet are in advance of the great 



112 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

Christian nations, or that ever were in advance 
of them, with respect to culture, character, 
institutions, and the means for obtaining and 
dispensing either the common comforts or the 
choicest enjoyments of life? And what is the 
character of the work wrought by the heralds 
of the cross in our times among the adherents 
of these systems, so far as they have been able 
to prevail with them to receive the gospel ? 
Have they not been lifted to a higher plane 
of intelligence, civilization, morals, and enjoy- 
ment? 

But even if the objections, which some urge 
against what they call the exclusiveness or 
intolerance of* Christianity, were valid, little 
would be taken from the sublimity of the mis- 
sion to which it calls its adherents. With 
reason or without reason, Christ summons His 
followers to attempt the conversion of the world. 
And they who truly believe in Him cannot set 
any narrower limits to their commission. And 
if they are true to their own faith, they will 
throw themselves into this great undertaking. 
And there is nothing so sublime in human 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 1 13 

action as this. It would be a grand scheme to 
convert a single race, or some great empire 
like that of China or Japan. But it is far 
grander to embrace all races, all empires, all 
tribes, all kindred, and all tongues. 

But the bare naming of the countries and the 
peoples, the survey of the vast area for which 
the gospel is designed, does not convey any 
thing like an adequate idea of the work to be 
accomplished. It would be no very difficult 
thing to raise an army of heralds, and send 
them forth into all lands. It would be no 
special burden for these heralds to deliver their 
message, if the nations were only waiting to 
receive them. But the way must be prepared. 
A language unformed must be reduced to order ; 
another, bristling all over with difficulties, must 
be acquired, and when acquired, found defi- 
cient in terms to state the cardinal truths of the 
gospel ; prejudices must be removed, hostility 
abated, hypocrisy circumvented, and all the 
twistings and turnings of human perversity 
followed and defeated. It is especially in this 
variety, fulness, complexity, and obstinacy of 



114 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

the details, which confront the great enterprise, 
that we see the loftiness of aim and purpose 
which moved Him, who first undertook Him- 
self and now summons us to such a service, 
and which must move those who would enter 
heartily and efficiently into it. He who gets 
his eye fairly upon this work, and his heart 
and hands fully in it, will not be in want of a 
mission to engross his sympathies or employ 
his energies. He will not ask for any thing 
greater, but only for wisdom, grace, and 
strength, to make full proof of his ministry. 
The names of Alexander and Cassar will be 
kept, not only in the knowledge, but also in the 
admiration of multitudes, perhaps as long as 
the world shall stand, because in their daring 
ambition they conquered the world. But the 
glory of the Macedonian and of the Roman is 
a poor and hollow thing in comparison with 
that which shall accrue to the Captain of our 
salvation, when great voices in heaven shall 
proclaim that f? the kingdoms of this world are 
become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his 
Christ ; and he shall reign for ever and ever." 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 1*5 

And in that glory shall every man have a 
share, if only he has been a faithful helper 
unto the kingdom of God. The service is one, 
in whatever age, country, or sphere performed. 
The poor widow, who cast her two mites into 
the treasury of the Lord, will have a part in 
the honor of the final triumph as surely as 
that great apostle, who, from Jerusalem round 
about unto Illyricum, fully preached the gospel 
of Christ. There is no right and worthy thing 
to be done, which may not be made a part of 
this service. Every man in his own calling, 
in his own place and business, provided they 
are such as God can approve, may bear a part 
in pressing forward the standards of the con- 
quering host. 

And this is a thing of the greatest moment. 
If nothing could be done in this great enter- 
prise except in particular lines of effort, — like 
making a pilgrimage, or preaching the word 
in the way of set and official discourse, — only 
a few could have a part in it. The necessities 
of life bind most to other kinds of service. 
Christ is not unmindful of these necessities. 



Il6 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

His regard for them is evinced by that saying, 
tr The sabbath was made for man, not man for 
the sabbath." Some parts of human care and 
toil seem to have little dignity or use, as com- 
pared with others ; but we should remember 
that what is feeble may be even more necessary. 
Great trusts are few, and but few are called to 
meet them. Little things are many, and to the 
many it is given to do them. If one desires 
the office of a bishop, he desires a good work. 
But one may also receive the reward of a good 
and faithful servant, if, whatever little things he 
is called to do, he does them heartily as unto 
the Lord. Every kind of lawful and useful 
business should be regarded and followed as a 
divinely appointed stewardship. 

The fault of many is not in what they do, 
but in doing it for themselves outside of the 
vineyard *of the Lord. We can do the most 
common things out of respect to the will of 
God, and with the abiding purpose to honor 
Him. We can hold our time, our plans, our 
activities, our pleasures, and our gains, at 
God's bidding and disposal. So doing, we 



GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. H7 

shall be in His service, let our calling be what 
it may. To suffer for Christ's sake belongs 
also to this comprehensive service. And in 
the grand economy of grace, perhaps, none 
can so ill be spared as those who suffer for 
Him. The finer and more difficult parts of 
the work are given to them. And those who 
are too poor to give, too weak to labor, and so 
mercifully cared for that they need not suffer, 
may w 7 ith their praying breath help on the 
great endeavor. With a look of sympathy, 
and a word of supplication and of benediction, 
the dying may hallow it and give it impulse. 
And if one has genius to devise and strength 
to execute great things, he will find room in 
this service for the best he can think or say or 
do. The difficulty of explaining and applying 
the word of God so as to reach the minds and 
hearts of young and old, of them that are near 
and them afar off, of defending the faith against 
the assaults of impiety and unbelief, of project- 
ing and working necessary agencies for the 
relief of suffering and the supply of want, will 
so tax his wisdom and his endurance, that he 



Il8 GRANDEUR OF ITS MISSION. 

will be constrained to say, "Who is sufficient 
for these things ? " Entering fully into the 
work of Christ, he will find it broad and deep 
and high enough for all the wisdom of men, 
taught and strengthened by the wisdom of 
God. 



C ONCL US I ON. 119 



XL 



CONCLUSION. 

COME claiming to be the most advanced 
thinkers of this age do not scruple to set 
aside the gospel as effete, or of less importance 
than the speculations and discoveries of their 
fertile minds. This assumption should lead all 
true believers to contend more earnestly for the 
faith once delivered to the saints. We will not 
disparage their persons or their acquisitions. 
But when Henry Buckle tells us, that "it 
may well be, that in the march of ages ever}^ 
definite and written creed now existing is to die 
out, and to be succeeded by better ones," our 
answer is, or would be, had he not already 
proved its truth in part, "All flesh is grass, 
and all the goodliness thereof is as the flower 
of the field. . . . The grass withereth, the 



1 2 O C ONCL US ION. 

flower fadeth : but the word of our God shall 
stand for ever." When John Stuart Mill says 
to us : "Many essential elements of the highest 
morality are not provided for, nor intended to 
be provided for, in the recorded deliverances 
of the Founder of Christianity. ... I think it a 
great error to persist in attempting to find in 
the Christian doctrine that complete rule for 
our guidance, which its Author intended to 
enforce, but only partially to provide," our 
answer is: "The law of the Lord is perfect, 
converting the soul : the testimony of the Lord 
is sure, making wise the simple." "Though 
we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other 
gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed." 
When E. L. Youmans teaches us that "it is 
now established that the dependence of thought 
upon organic conditions is so intimate and ab- 
solute, that they can no longer be considered 
except as unity," we confront him with the 
words of the Royal Preacher : "Then shall the 
dust return to the earth as it was : and the 
spirit shall return unto God who gave it." 



CONCLUSION. 121 

And when he further affirms : " The full-orbed 
intellect is yet to come, and will doubtless 
bring with it the perpetual motion and the 
Jews' Messias," we tell him that "grace and 
truth came by Jesus Christ ; " that w God hath 
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, 
. . . the brightness of his glory, and the express 
image of his person." 

These men, and others like them, speaking in 
the name of History, Philosophy, and Science, 
have power to mislead many who have not 
known by experience the grace of our Lord 
Jesus Christ, and to unsettle the faith of some 
who have believed. Of all such, in so far as 
they make war upon Christianity, must we be 
able to say to those imperilled by their show 
of superior wisdom : w To whom we gave place 
by subjection, no, not for an hour; that the 
truth of the gospel may continue with you." 
Bold as is the tone of modern Unbelief, we have 
no occasion to be disquieted for the ark of God. 
The power of the Cross is mighty, our enemies 
themselves being judges. Lecky, in his lau- 
dation of Rationalism, makes this admission : 



122 CONCLUSION. 

" When we look back to the cheerful alacrity 
with which, in some former ages, men sacri- 
ficed all their material and intellectual interests 
to what they believed to be right, and when we 
realize the unclouded assurance that was their 
reward, it is impossible to deny that we have 
lost something in our progress. " Guizot tells 
us of an intelligent and distinguished disciple 
of Voltaire, who said to him : "It is not on my 
own account that I regret these attacks, but I 
ask for regularity and peace in my own house- 
hold ; I felicitate myself that my wife is a 
Christian, and I mean my daughters to be 
brought up like Christian women. These de- 
molishers know not what they are doing ; it is 
not merely upon bur churches, it is upon our 
houses and their inmates, that their blows are 
telling ! " And the philosopher Diderot is re- 
ported to have said to his associates, at the 
house of Baron d'Holbach : " In spite of all the 
evil we have spoken, and doubtless with reason 
enough, of this book, I defy you, with all your 
power, to compose a narrative which shall be 
as simple, but at the same time as sublime and 



CONCLUSION. 123 

as touching, as the recital of the passion and 
death of Jesus Christ ; which shall produce the 
same effect, and make so strong a sensation, felt 
so generally by all, and the influence of which 
shall continue the same after so many ages." 
Astonishment and silence were the fit, the 
impressive, and the only answer. 



Cambridge : Stereotyped and Printed by John Wilson and Son. 



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